Bataan 2nd District Rep. Enrique Garcia III in an exchange with Gov. Albert Garcia and Senator Joel Villanueva. Photo by Ernie Esconde
BALANGA CITY — Senator Joel Villanueva in a visit here Thursday said that smuggling of agricultural products continued to affect Filipino farmers, and this they will dig deeper in their Senate hearing this coming Tuesday.
In a privilege speech, Senate President Tito Sotto exposed the alleged smuggling activities.
“Hindi lang si Senator Sotto ang naka-experience nito. In our office, ang dami-daming mga complaints from meat, swine producers mula sa amin sa Bulacan na talagang naapektuhan ng African swine fever. Pati mga gulay doon sa La Trinidad, Benguet. I was just there last week at iyan din ang inirereklamo nila,” the senator said.
He said there is a need to place more teeth in the law.
“Ang problema, we feel na we have enough laws. We don’t know kung ano ang mga lapses noong mga batas na ipinasa namin but so far kapag tinignan mo in adverse eyeview ay alam mo na kaagad there is a problem in implementation. Mukhang may mafia sa loob eh,” Villanueva noted.
He cited an example that at the first level, the imported agricultural product is being checked but no more inspection in the next level is being done and merely given the green light being a big company
“But it turned out that the company is not big but only holding office in a residence. This is a basic information where regulatory agencies of government on agricultural products seemed to fail,” Villanueva said.
Villanueva whose wife is from Dinalupihan, Bataan was at The Bunker, seat of the provincial government, in a consultation with Gov. Albert Garcia and 2nd District Rep. Jose Enrique Garcia III.
Also welcoming the senator were lawyer Tonyboy Roman, legal adviser of 1st District Rep. Geraldine Roman, Dinalupihan Mayor Maria Angela Garcia and Balanga City Mayor Francis Garcia, among some others.
