A 50,000-strong farmers group welcomed the filing of a Senate bill which seeks to toughen the existing Anti-Smuggling law by expanding its coverage and imposing stricter penalties.
In a statement, the Philippine Tobacco Growers Association (PTGA) said it supports Senate Bill No. 1812 because it would curb the massive smuggling of agricultural products that hurts the local farm sector and deprives the government of revenues.
The PTGA lauded Sen. Lito Lapid for filing SB 1812 that seeks to strengthen the existing law against the smuggling of agricultural products amid the rampant illegal importation of commodities like sugar, onions, and tobacco.
SB 1812 proposes amendments to Republic Act 10845 or the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016, along with the recently passed House Bill 3917. It considers large-scale agricultural smuggling of tobacco, whether manufactured or unmanufactured, including finished products such as cigars, cigarettes, or heated tobacco products, as an act of economic sabotage and a non-bailable offense.
Specifically, it seeks to revise Section 4 of RA 10845 by imposing the penalty of imprisonment of 30 to 40 years, and a fine of twice the fair value and the aggregate amount of the taxes, duties and other charges avoided by the smuggling of tobacco.
The current law only penalizes large-scale smuggling of sugar, corn, pork, poultry, garlic, onion, carrots, fish, and cruciferous vegetables in its raw state, or which have undergone the simple processes of preparation or preservation for the market, with a minimum amount of P1 million.
The farmer’s group asked the Senate to act on Lapid’s proposal and expand the coverage of RA 10845 to include both raw and processed tobacco in the list of core agricultural products given protection against large-scale smuggling.
Industry data show that smuggling adversely affects about 700,000 sugar cane farmers, 35,000 onion farmers, and 462,000 workers involved in the tobacco production chain across the Philippines.
PTGA president Saturnino Distor said all agricultural industries should be equally protected as rampant smuggling continues to be a grave threat to the livelihood of local farmers and millions of dependents who rely on these industries for income and sustenance.
The National Tobacco Administration (NTA) estimates that 2.2 million people depend on the tobacco industry, while data from the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) indicate that around 5 to 6 million are indirectly employed by the sugar industry.
Distor lamented how smuggling renders local farm output uncompetitive, impedes the productivity of farmers and leads to higher costs of agricultural products to the detriment of consumers.
The unabated smuggling of tobacco is estimated to cost P50 billion to P100 billion in revenue losses for the government, according to the Bureau of Internal Revenue. As provided under Republic Act no. 11346, part of the excise taxes collected from tobacco products shall be allocated to fund the government’s Universal Health Care program. In 2021, the BIR collected P176 billion from the tobacco industry.
