Benguet town forms task force vs vegetable smugglers

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet , Philippines —­The municipal government of La Trinidad has created a task force against the entry of smuggled vegetables to protect the local industry. Mayor Roderick Awingan signed Executive Order 160 on Tuesday, creating the Municipal Anti-Vegetable Sabotage Task Force to protect the livelihoods of farmers, traders and other stakeholders. The task force will carry out measures against vegetable smuggling and conduct real-time surveillance of vegetable inflows, farm gate-to-retail price spreads and unusual stock movements in public markets, private trading areas and cold storage facilities. The task force is mandated to cross-check market data against the national Daily Price Index, as provided under Republic Act 12022 or the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act. It will coordinate with the La Trinidad police, the Bureau of Plant Industry and the Department of Agriculture in intercepting smuggled vegetable shipments. The task force will conduct regulatory inspections based on verified intelligence reports and assist in the quarantine and seizure of prohibited, unlabeled or untracked vegetable stocks. An absolute prohibition on illegally imported or smuggled vegetables will be imposed at key trading hubs, public markets and private trading areas. Vegetable smuggling in the Philippines is a significant issue that depresses the income of local farmers and contributes to food price volatility. Particularly for high-demand vegetables, smuggled products entering the market at lower prices undermine the price competitiveness of produce grown and distributed through legitimate channels. While the government has implemented various measures, the extensive distribution networks and complex supply chains often serve as breeding grounds for smuggling.