Customs leads rice cartel / Landgrabbers infest Bugsuk

For sure there’s a rice cartel.

- JARIUS BONDOC

It’s evident in the retail price of the staple, P51 to P55 a kilo.

That’s despite three factors which should have pulled down prices:

• 20-percent slash of import tariffs, from 35 to 15 percent;

• Drop in world price when rice supply stabilized in July 2024;

• Drop in domestic palay price due to deluge of imports.

But what emboldens cartelists to manipulate prices, when such offense is nonbailable and fetches a P10-million fine and life term?

Simple, the Bureau of Customs is behind the cartel.

Rep. Nicanor Briones unearthed evidence of technical smuggling: “Imports are undervalued:

“BOC mysteriously does not ask importers to declare transaction value. Instead it uses reference values on different grain qualities, five-, ten-, 15- and 25-percent broken.

“BOC’s reference values were set in 2018, and have not factored inflation since then.

“Taking the cue from BOC, importers thus transact by confidential telegraphic bank transfers instead of open letters of credit.

“They just declare import costs lower than BOC reference values. Eh ‘di ayos na! They pay import duties based on BOC reference values.”

Briones heads AGAP (Agricultural Alliance of the Philippines).

Broadcaster Ted Failon exposed a parallel racket: “palubog” or under declaration. He explained in Radyo5 how it works:

“With BOC consent, importers declare only half of their cargo, say, only 100,000 tons instead of the real 200,000. In BOC parlance, nakalubog ang kalahati ng kargamento.