Stop sugar smuggling, NFSP asks Customs

The president of the National Federation of Sugarcane Planters yesterday said he is calling on the Bureau of Customs to stop the proliferation of smuggled sugar in the domestic markets of Cebu.

Enrique Rojas, NFSP president, said in a letter to Bureau of Customs officer-in-charge Alexander Arevalo yesterday that, in the past, “the Bureau of Customs did not seem very enthusiastic in running after sugar smugglers”.

Rojas said he hopes the bureau immediately addresses the problem of sugar smuggling now so that it can show that it fully supports the anti-corruption drive of President Benigno Aquino III.

Aquino has brought a feeling of optimism to the sugar industry, Rojas said.

“We feel that our new president will act and provide solutions to problems facing the industry, foremost of which is sugar smuggling. Now is a very good opportunity for the new administration to show to the Filipinos that it is very serious in its drive to stamp out graft and corruption,” Rojas said.

Jose Mari Miranda, president of the Cebu-based Bogo-Medellin Planters Association, which is a member of the NFSP, has informed them that local sugar traders in Cebu are complaining that they can not sell their sugar because the local market is flooded with smuggled raw sugar, Rojas said.

In the past, smuggled sugar came in bags in refined form. Because nothing has been done about the rampant sugar smuggling, the smugglers now have become so brazen, they bring in smuggled sugar in its raw form in container vans, he added.

This is the first time that raw sugar is being smuggled into the country, he added.

Sugar producers and even local sugar traders are gravely affected by the cheaper smuggled sugar, he added.

“Domestically-produced sugar faces unfair competition from smuggled sugar which is sold at a “dump” prices below its production cost. This drives down the price of domestic sugar to the detriment of the sugar producers who are already suffering from high prices of fuel and farm inputs and the damage to crops from El Niño,” Rojas also said.

Sugar smuggling, or any other form of smuggling, for that matter, is economic sabotage. Rojas said. It deprives the government of much-needed revenues, and farmers of the rightful fruits of their labor and investments, he added.

The Sugar Regulatory Administration, in coordination with the Sugar Alliance of the Philippines, has formed the Sugar Anti-Smuggling Organization and finances its operations from the sugar industry’s own funds. Rojas said.

However, SASO’s hands are tied because it has no police powers, he explained.

This is because the Bureau of Customs does not give the necessary mission orders for Customs personnel to accompany SASO personnel in apprehending smuggled sugar and the sugar smugglers, distributors and retailers, he added.*CPG

source: dailystar