EVERY TIME AN inquiry on agricultural smuggling is conducted, the congressional probers almost always demand a list of big-time smugglers, not the small fry. They would brusquely stress: “Give us the names of the biggies,” they insist in jostling and clamorous fashion. Exasperation is written on their faces, and, in no time at all, decibels are raised to much higher levels than is necessary. Sometimes, they even ignore their own rules. And they tend to forget their real role: to investigate in aid of legislation or to pursue their collective oversight power. In either case, the rights of resource persons are supposed to be respected, nay, protected, under the fundamental law of the land. 

Yet, we often see how these probers have disrespected the rights of witnesses and resource persons. Some behaved as if they could just licentiously go beyond the bounds of decency and reason—they yelled, they hollered, they insulted, and at times, they even threatened their invited resource persons. 

What happened to the old notion of chivalry markedly present and observed in both houses of Congress in the days of yore? Has raising voices during legislative inquiries been proven to effectively ferret out “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? When has the truth ever become a function of decibels? 

Or, is anyone ready to defer to Sulla, who asked the Roman Senate: “When did the Senate ever represent the people?”    

But the congressional probers’ impatience over the slow progress of their investigation is not misplaced. For, despite the awesome powers of Congress, the economic saboteurs—and their “indispensable partners” in government, still run rings around these legislative committees. In not so few instances, government witnesses and resource persons were noticed to have mastered the art of stonewalling, of feigning ignorance, of opting to be labeled as tanga rather than to be implicated as kasama in shenanigans being investigated. These stuffs when strutted before the solons will certainly get someone’s goat. And understandably so, because the legislators are—just like us, enraged by the ebb and flow of agricultural smuggling. 

Big-time smugglers include those individuals whose identities ring a bell that reverberates in every nook and cranny of the customs zone, albeit their names do not appear on customs documents. And for the Customs authorities to not know them, identify them, let alone hold them accountable for the systemic fraud on customs is—to the legislators—unacceptable. And it doesn’t sound like a valid excuse that the biggies’ names do not appear on customs papers. 

Put simply: if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, smells like a duck, in all likelihood, it is a duck! Cast the dragnet pronto!

Hence, this question: Is it, at all, possible for anyone whose name does not appear in any customs document, to be indicted for agricultural smuggling—large scale or otherwise?  

The Customs Modernization and Traffic Act (RA 10863), the new law that expressly repealed the 1978 Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines may be instructive, thus:

“Smuggling refers to the fraudulent act of importing any goods into the Philippines, or the act of assisting in receiving, concealing, buying, selling, disposing or transporting such goods, with full knowledge that the same has been fraudulently imported, or the fraudulent exportation of goods. Goods referred to under this definition shall be known as smuggled goods.” [Emphases ours.] 

Verily, one does not need to be the one who fraudulently imported the goods—the “act of assisting in receiving, concealing, buying, selling, disposing or transporting such goods, with full knowledge that the same has been fraudulently imported,” will make one liable for smuggling, as defined by the CMTA.

RA 10863 classifies the commission of smuggling into two (2) types, namely: 

“Outright smuggling [which] refers to an act of importing goods into the country without complete customs prescribed importation documents, or without being cleared by customs or other regulatory government agencies, for the purpose of evading payment of prescribed taxes, duties and other government charges.” [Emphases supplied.]  

and, 

“Technical smuggling [which] refers to the act of importing goods into the country by means of fraudulent, falsified or erroneous declaration of goods to its nature, kind, quality, quantity or weight, for the purpose of reducing or avoiding payment of prescribed taxes, duties and other charges.” [Emphases supplied.]

Clearly, smuggling, in its many nuances, is predicated on fraud—actual fraud. And, devoid of any pretentious habiliment, the fraud contemplated by law “must be intentional fraud, consisting of deception willfully and deliberately done or resorted to in order to induce another to give up some right,” said the Supreme Court in CTA v. Farolan. 
But, then, again: must the author of the fraud have to be named in the accompanying importation documents for him to be indictable?

“As Caesar loved me, I weep for him; as he was fortunate, I rejoice at it; as he was valiant, I honour him: but, as he was ambitious, I slew him,” these words resonate not only with the learners in literature and poetry courses but among political science students as well. 

Yes, you’re right, these were Brutus’ words during the funeral for the slain Roman leader, Julius Caesar. 

I invite you to note well—nota bene—the last phrase: “but, as he was ambitious, I slew him.” All told, said Brutus, it was Caesar’s ambition that did him in. 

To repeat: it was because of ambition that Julian Caesar met his end—not in the hands of Rome’s enemy but in the hands of Romans so known to him—whose unrestrained desires and aspirations conflicted with the logical consequences of Ceasar’s exploits and conquests.

This admission of Brutus—a close peer, associate, and fan of Caesar, sounds ominous today as it was when sounded by Brutus at the steps of that Great Roman Edifice centuries ago. Treachery? Disloyalty? Love of country? Clashing ambitions? 

Be the better judge!

Rust Never Sleeps
Are we witnessing the unfolding of a historical parallelism today with that infamous event that took place right inside the halls of the Roman Senate some decades—44 years, Before the Common Era?

Let me attempt to refresh our collective memory. Early into the 6-year term of a Presidential and Vice-Presidential tandem that was bruited to span at least 12-years of UniTeam’s supremacy—with the jaundiced bloc having taken so much beating during the Duterte Administration (remember the Ocho Deretso?), what appeared to be a super-strong partnership and made much stronger by the steely and alloyed resolve to hold on together with the President providing mentorship to his Veep (after all, Bongbong Marcos needs to train his understudy as he, under the 1987 Constitution, is barred from seeking reelection) and Sara Duterte (learning the basic ropes in statecraft and benefiting from 6-year internship which, by then, must have fortified her confidence level by 2028), succumbed to its own rust. 

As Neil Young & Crazy Horse sang: Rust Never Sleeps.

And the rust was provided by the ambitions of those who cannot wait for 12 years—they wanted badly to be in the order of succession right after PBBM. Ergo, Veep Sara must be yanked out of the ruling party pronto!

Consequently, even before the midterm 2025 elections, the once formidable tandem—propelled by 32 million voters—was headed for the rocks. BBM and Sara Duterte must go separate ways. So today’s reality: unless lightning strikes them into a reunion, no human force can mend the fissure.

How It All Begun 
Let it not skip our memory that the current political hullabaloo had been triggered by the House of Representatives as they deny the Office of the Vice President’s budgetary request for P500M confidential funds. The amount, the HOR felt, is not only unprecedented but irregular as well—the Veep being a mere spare tire in our constitutional order. So, deny the Veep, they did!

Ostensibly, the supporters of the Veep—the former President included, did not like what the House leadership did to the second highest official of the land specially over the Veep’s confidential funds. Thus, FPRRD challenged the House leadership to apply to itself the very measure it wants the Veep to be subjected to: accountability. 

Put differently, the HOR should comply with their liquidation of expenses according to Hoyle. The former Chief Executive hollered: the HOR is the most corrupt agency in the government. It went ballistic saying that the HOR liquidates its expenses by way of a mere certification—a process agreed upon only by both chambers of Congress, and not in accord with COA’s auditing rules and procedures. Hence, improper, illegal, unconstitutional.

To date, the HOR has yet to comment on the  constitutionality of its liquidation by certification—a mode that is outside the modes defined by the constitutionally-mandated state auditors: the COA.

Observers believe that FPRRD’s demand has constitutional moorings. It should be noted that the Executive and the Judicial departments both observe the requirements of the State Auditing Code of the Philippines. This Code is religiously complied with by the Constitutional Commissions—including the COA, and even the Ombudsman. What then is the constitutional basis of both chambers of Congress for excepting themselves from the constitutional coverage of COA’s auditing rules and regulations?

Laws and JurisprudenceLet’s revisit some laws and jurisprudence:  The Administrative Code of 1987 (EO 292) provides: “Declaration of Policy. — All resources of the government shall be managed, expended, or utilized in accordance with law and regulations and safeguarded against loss or wastage through illegal or improper disposition to ensure efficiency, economy and effectiveness in the operations of government. The responsibility to take care that such policy is faithfully adhered to rests directly with the chief or head of the government agency concerned” (Book V, Title I, Subtitle B, Chapter 1, Section 1).

Section 2(7), of Chapter 1 thereof, defines “resources” as “the actual assets of any agency of the Government such as cash, instruments representing or convertible to money, receivables, lands, buildings, as well as contingent assets, such as estimated revenues applying to the current fiscal period not accrued or collected, and bonds authorized and unissued.”

Section 2(8): “‘Government agency’ or ‘agency of the government,’ or ‘agency’ refers to any department, bureaus or office of the National Government, or any of its branches and instrumentalities, or any political subdivision, as well as any government-owned or controlled corporation, including its subsidiaries, or other self-governing board or commission of the Government.”

That said, let us now listen to what the Supreme Court has said about the COA and its constitutional mandate, viz.: “(The) Commission on Audit is a constitutional agency vested with the power, authority and duty to examine, audit and settle all accounts pertaining to the revenue and receipts of and expenditures or uses of funds and property owned or held in trust by the government or any of its subdivisions, agencies or instrumentalities (Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. COA, 218 SCRA 203 [1993]).” 

Further, it held: “The power of the Commission on Audit to audit and examine government expenditures is enshrined in Section 2(1), Article IX-D of the 1987 Constitution (National Housing Corporation v. COA, 226 SCRA 55 [1993]).” 

Furthermore, it ruled that: “The Commission on Audit is a constitutionally-created independent and separate body, and neither Congress nor the Executive Department has the power to detract from its mandated duties, functions, and powers (DBP v. COA, G.R. No. 88435, promulgated January 16, 2002).”

Still, furthermore, the High Court said: 

“The Constitution also granted to Commission on Audit the power to promulgate accounting and auditing rules and regulations including those for the prevention and disallowance of irregular, unnecessary, excessive, extravagant or unconsciously expenditures (National Housing Corporation v. COA, Supra).”

In his book, The Administrative Code of 1987 Annotated, pp. 1093-1094, former Asst SolGen Renan E. Ramos, citing the Supreme Court ruling in Aguinaldo v. Sandiganbayan, 265 SCRA 121 [1996], wrote: “Commission on Audit’s approval of a government official’s disbursements only relates to the administrative aspect of the matter of his accountability but it does not foreclose the Ombudsman’s authority to investigate and determine whether there is a crime to be prosecuted for which such official is answerable.”

Thus, it is now beyond cavil that “The responsibility for state audit is vested by the Constitution on the Commission on Audit (Mamaril v. Domingo, 227 SCRA 206 [1993].”

And the “Commission on Audit shall have exclusive authority to define the scope of its audit and examination, establish the techniques and methods required therefore and promulgate accounting and auditing rules and regulations (Danville Maritime, Inc. v. COA, 175 SCRA 701 [1989]).”

Unfortunately—or as dictated by political one-upmanship geared towards 2028, there’s no responsive answer from the House leadership ever since that elder Duterte’s dare—only diversionary offensives. 

Until, of late, Quad Committee—and just recently, the PenTaComm, were concocted—all HOR committees capable of uncovering skeletons bearing the footprints of the Dutertes were grouped into one multi-barreled noise machine. 

And it seems, a responsive action to the former  President’s challenge is not looming on the horizon.

In basketball, court tacticians are wont to say: “The best defense is offense.” This is what the House  Speaker and his defenders did. And they’re doing it without let up—drowning every attempt to demand from the HOR full compliance of the COA liquidation procedures. 

But if you still have any question why the House cannot just put the issue to rest by simply complying with the proper COA-prescribed liquidation procedures despite the conflagration that has torn apart the once formidable alliance— the UniTeam, listen to this: Because when that happens, that is, the COA puts its foot down and requires the HOR to apply the audit and liquidation procedures enforced in the Judiciary and the Executive, then the conflagration will inevitably shift its locale to the HOR Committee on Accounts—a domain where the spouse of the Speaker holds court. It will be too hot an environment for the well-protected lady. 

So destroy the Veep—at all cost! The script must be pursued, the plan must be observed, and the impeachment charges against the Veep must be pressed. There shall be no let up—the campaign must be sustained. The charges need not hold water; the optics, after all, are what will matter.

Congress’ bicameral committee cut down the respective original 2025 budgets on education and health. 

DepEd’s budget was reduced by nearly P12-billion from P748.6-billion to P737-billion. CHED’s budget was reduced by P3.4 billion from its 2024 budget of P36.7-billion. SUC’s budget was reduced by 5.8-billion, ending with only P122.2-billion. 

It’s a great letdown for the Filipino people, as budgets for the DPWH and the DND were given huge allotments. This was carried out, deceitfully (as social media enthusiasts described it) as the legislators ignored calls for a transparent session open to the public, aware that their tax-money has been funding such legislative meetings.

At the same session, a zero budget was allotted to the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth). 

Anti-People Decision

This zero budget effectively strips the premium of tens of millions of PhilHealth’s indirect contributors, namely, the poor, the senior citizens, and the PWDs, and thus makes the direct contributors, many of whom are from the working class, bear the sole burden of funding PhilHealth. 

In fact, this anti-people decision by the bicameral committee was strongly condemned with a Public Statement by more than a hundred CSOs, NGOs, Partylist groups, and concerned citizens. They pointed out, among other arguments, that the lawmakers practically decided in violation of the Sin Tax Reform Law and the Universal Healthcare (UHC) Act. 

Noteworthy, too, is that mobilizations were carried out calling for the bicameral committee to meet again to make the necessary pro-people corrections on the budgets of PhilHealth, DepEd, SUCs, UP, Ched, as well as adjustments on the DPWH and DND budgets. 

Surely, the development of people, especially the children and youth, in terms of their physical health and personal educational growth, are obviously much more important than infrastructures and confidential funds for Red-tagging, EJKs, or imagined threats to national security.

A Healthy Environment

Education and Health of the Filipino people are the key foundational concerns of any government administration. The level of education of the people of any nation serves not only as the springboard of creativity, but the necessary steady engine, as it were, of new ideas, new inventions, new technologies that lead to progress in various fields of endeavors. 

Primary target for development, as history has shown, has been the need for eliminating diseases and maintaining the health of the people – to ensure a healthy environment and a robust economy for society. 

With a healthy population, any society with its top leadership can then focus its development efforts in the many key fields of concerns, and most importantly, on the education of the people. 

An educated population cannot but lead to responsible citizens, who are able to acquire decent jobs, be productive and be able to contribute to a healthy economy. 

A sustainable economy can bring about, in turn, a progressive spiral of advances in the various fields of endeavors of society, especially in medical science. This cannot but lead further to maintaining a healthy population – and on to a progressive country.  

Heartless Leaders

Education where knowledge starts and is sustained spells POWER – particularly to minimize, if not eliminate the evils that hound a society. 

An educated and healthy population cannot but lead to a society’s progressively healthy growth in its politics, continuing robust economy and even the preservation and enrichment of its culture. 

Can’t our lawmakers craft laws and come up with realistic budgets that should benefit the people and the country as a whole? Their basic job is essentially to improve the lives of all Filipinos, as called for in their mandate as government officials. Such has been the people’s expectation from their representatives in Congress for too long. 

Are they a heartless bunch of leaders for the people?!

THE BIG PUSH by the Department of Agriculture to sell imported rice (not local ones) and other basic food items confiscated from the ports by Customs authorities in Kadiwa centers smells rather fishy to me.

Smuggling has intensified in recent months, esp. with the approach of Christmas season, and the DA has been confiscating what it calls imported products without the necessary permits from agencies like the bureaus of plant industry (rice, veggies and fruits), animal industry (pork, chicken, and beef cuts) and fisheries (for fisheries and aquatic products) yet most of these are being impounded in ships after weeks that consignees do not claim them.

Instead of allowing these to rot, the DA asked the BoC to release the rice stocks for victims of calamities and other emergencies but the bulk goes to Kadiwa stores, purportedly to be sold to low-income consumers.

Into Whose Pocket

But what is surprising is that in previous Kadiwa operations (of President Marcos, Sr.), the Kadiwa placed a purchase limit of two to five kilos per buyer to ensure that more people will be able to benefit from cheaper rice.

In today’s Kadiwa operation – which by the way also expanded to MRT North EDSA and LRT Monumento stations – there is no limit to the volume of rice to be bought and the DA even allows merchants to resell them which makes it suspicious. 

Exactly what volume of smuggled and seized rice are we talking about for the Kadiwa outlets? Are they really smuggled or just being seized by the government for its own coffers or for someone else’s pocket.

Ensured Access

The Kadiwa was conceived during the time of Marcos Sr. to ensure a ready market for local producers of food crops like vegetables, fruits and rice to be sold to low income consumers with volume limits so that more can buy these items. 

The DA has been hyping that it would be adding 71 more Kadiwa stores by the end of December. There are 108 existing KNP (Kadiwa ng Pangulo)  centers nationwide, which DA aims to increase to 179 by December and 300 by mid-2025 with the ultimate goal of reaching 1,500 KNP centers by the end of the Marcos administration.

As instructed by the President, the DA must ensure accessibility and strengthen KNP operations so more people can buy food products at lower than prevailing market prices.

Prices of agricultural products normally spike after the onslaught of typhoons due to problems with supply. And with the Yuletide just around the corner, prices have been soaring because of heavy demand and short supply from the damage wrought by the typhoons.

Laundering?

The expansion of KNP centers can be done in partnership with other government agencies, such as the Philippine Carabao Center (PCC) and National Housing Authority (NHA) which offer venues that can be converted into KNPs.

The DA is also eyeing the Philippine Postal Corp. (PhilPost) as a major partner in reaching the target 1,500 expansion of KNP centers.

PhilPost has offices near municipal centers and near population centers and it has trucks that can be used to bring the goods to the Kadiwa stores.

Logistics-wise, Philpost is in the best position to help us be able to transport all these goods in various areas in the country, a DA official said.

With the Kadiwa, all smuggled goods seized by the government will now find their way to the legitimate market making the Kadiwa a bridge for smuggling as it legitimizes the sale of confiscated goods.

Somehow it seems to me like laundering a confiscated illegal product through a legitimate government entity, the KNP.