Agricultural Smuggling as Economic Sabotage.
SEC. 7. Agricultural Smuggling as Economic Sabotage. - Smuggling is the fraudulent act of importing or bringing of assisting and fishery products into the country, or the act of assisting in receiving, concealing, buying, selling, disposing, storing, or transporting such products, with full knowledge that the same have been fraudulently imported.
The crime of agricultural smuggling as economic sabotage is committed when the value of each or of the combination of agricultural and fishery products smuggled by a person is at least Ten million pesos (P10,000,000.00) computed using the DPI at the time the crime was committed.
Agricultural smuggling as used in this Act shall be committed through any of the following acts:
(a) Importing or bringing agricultural and fishery products into the Philippines without the required import clearance from regulatory agencies;
(b) Use of import clearance by persons other than those specifically named in the permit;
(c) Use of fake, false, fictitious or fraudulent import clearance, shipping documents, or any other transport documentation;
(d) Selling, lending, leasing, assigning, consenting to, or allowing the use by other persons of the import clearance in the name of corporations, nongovernment organizations, associations, cooperatives, partnerships, or single proprietorships;
(e) Misclassification, underevaluation, or misdeclaration upon the filing of import entry declaration or transport documentation with the Bureau of Customs (BOC) in order to evade the payment of correct taxes and duties due the government.
(f) Organizing or using dummy corporations, nongovernment organizations, associations, cooperatives, partnerships, or single proprietorships for the purpose of acquiring import clearance;
(g) Knowingly transporting or storing smuggled agricultural and fishery products;
(h) Acting as a broker of the importer;
(i) Allowing the use of a private port, fish port, fish landing site, resort, and/or airport to perpetrate economic sabotage;
(j) Distributing, selling, or dealing in any other manner with any agricultural and fishery products which a person knows or should have known to have been imported through any of the above means, regardless of the value. Selling of tobacco products below the DPI is likewise prohibited; or
(k) Having been convicted of acts of smuggling under relevant provisions of the CMTA on two (2) separate instances, commits a third violation, which shall now be covered by this Act, regardless of the value of the product.
The Enforcement Group, on the strength of a Letter of Authority (LOA) issued by the Council, shall have the authority to visit areas where the agricultural and fishery products are located, for the purpose of ensuring compliance with this Act and other relevant laws concerning the importation, storage, and/or sale of agricultural and fishery products. The Enforcement Group shall give due notice to the relevant persons, who may be the owner, possessor, or person exercising control over the agricultural and fishery products, to provide proof of compliance with this Act, particularly import documents and proof of payment of duties and taxes in the case of business establishments other than importers, within twenty-four (24) hours, pending which, the goods shall be placed in the constructive custody of the Enforcement Group.
In the event that the relevant person fails to produce such evidence of compliance within twenty-four (24) hours, the Enforcement Group shall immediately apply for a seizure order and file the relevant case or criminal action in the court. Pending the issuance or denial of the seizure order, the subject goods shall remain in constructive custody.
The mere possession or presence of agricultural and fishery products which have been the subject of smuggling referred to in the Act in any fish port, fish landing site, resort, airport, BOC-controlled port, or any warehouse, cold storage, vessel, transport conveyance, and other storage areas shall constitute prima facie evidence of agricultural smuggling as economic sabotage.
Any provision of the CMTA to the contrary notwithstanding:
(a) The assessment of duties and taxes of the agricultural and fishery products shall be based on the classification entered in the import entry declaration;
(b) The assessment and readjustment of appraisal of the agricultural and fishery products subject to this Act, insofar as allowing the BOC to adjust and settle the final assessment are hereby disallowed; and
(c) The Trade Regulatory Agencies are hereby empowered to declare misclassification and misdeclaration, as found in violation of the import clearance.
Implementation of the National Single Window (NSW).
SEC. 7-A. Implementation of the National Single Window (NSW). - The BOC and all Trade Regulatory Agencies shall fully implement the NSW program as originally mandated in Executive Order No. 482, series of 2005, within ninety (90) days from the effectivity of this Act.
Upon the effectivity of this Act and until the full implementation of the NSW, the BOC and Trade Regulatory Agencies concerned shall, immediately after approval of import application and receipt of notice of arrival, furnish the Council with electronic copies of the following:
(a) All import applications containing relevant information of the importer(s), consignee(s), and broker(s);
(b) All import orders and import clearances;
(c) Name and other relevant information of the foreign exporter(s);
(d) All certificates issued in the country of origin proving compliance with the conditions set in the import clearance;
(e) Other equivalent documents issued to or submitted by importers of agricultural and fishery products; and
(f) Such other relevant documents as may be required by the Council pursuant to the implementation of this Act.
Failure to implement the NSW and/or furnish the Council with the above-enumerated documents shall subject the head of the concerned office of the BOC and Trade Regulatory Agencies to administrative and criminal prosecution in accordance with applicable laws and regulations.
Agricultural Hoarding as Economic Sabotage.
SEC. 8. Agricultural Hoarding as Economic Sabotage. - Agricultural boarding as economic sabotage is committed by a person or combination of persons by having stocks of agricultural and fishery products in excess of thirty percent (30%) of their normal inventory level ten (10) days after the declaration of an abnormal situation by the Council or after the declaration of an emergency or state of calamity by competent authority.
Upon the declaration of an abnormal situation by the Council, or an emergency or state of calamity by competent authority, all persons shall sell to the public their stocks of agricultural and fishery products in excess of their normal inventory level within ten (10) days from the said declaration
After ten (10) days from said declaration, the Enforcement Group, on the strength of a LOA issued by the Council, shall have the authority to visit areas where the agricultural and fishery products are located, for the purpose of ensuring compliance with this Act and other relevant laws concerning the sale of agricultural and fishery products to the general public. The Enforcement Group shall give due notice to the relevant persons, who may be the owner, possessor, or person exercising control over the agricultural and fishery products, to provide proof of compliance with this Act, particularly documentary proof that stocks are within normal inventory level or final contracts of sale covering existing stocks, within twenty-four (24) hours, pending which the goods shall be placed in the constructive custody of the Enforcement Group.
In the event that the relevant person fails to produce such evidence of compliance within twenty-four (24) hours, the Enforcement Group shall immediately apply for a seizure order and file the relevant case of criminal action in court. Pending the issuance or denial of the seizure order, the subject goods shall remain in constructive custody.
In cases where the business has been in existence for more than a year, the normal inventory level shall be the average inventory for the twenty-four (24)-month period preceding the declaration by the Council of an abnormal situation, or declaration by competent authority of emergency or state of calamity; otherwise, normal inventory level, shall be the average of the months from the start of the business.
Agricultural Profiteering as Economic Sabotage.
SEC. 9. Agricultural Profiteering as Economic Sabotage. - Agricultural profiteering as economic sabotage is the sale or offer for sale of agricultural and fishery products at a price at least ten percent (10%) in excess of the DPI, at the time of the declaration of an abnormal situation by the Council, or emergency or state of calamity by competent authority.
Profiteering shall not apply to retailers who purchase goods from wholesalers, importers, or producers, and directly sell in smaller quantities to the general public, usually in wet markets, talipapa, and cooperative stores with capitalization not exceeding Two hundred thousand pesos (P200,000.00), and farmers and fisherfolk selling their own harvest, produce, or catch.
There shall also be a prima facie evidence of profiteering whenever a product is sold or offered for sale at a price thirty percent (30%) in excess of the DPI at the time of said declaration.
Profiteering shall not apply to price increase, set by manufacturers of tobacco as a consequences of mandated excise tax increases in accordance with law.
The Enforcement Group, on the strength of a LOA issued by the Council, shall have the authority to visit areas where the agricultural and fishery products suspected to be the subject of profiteering are located and shall give due notice to the relevant persons, who may be the owner, possessor, or person exercising control over the agricultural and fishery products to provide justification for the unreasonable price increase, such as cost of acquisition and sales receipts, within twenty-four (24) hours, pending which the products shall be placed in the constructive custody of the Enforcement Group.
In the event that the relevant person fails to provide justification for the unreasonable price increase within twenty-four (24) hours, the Enforcement Group shall immediately apply for a seizure order and file the relevant case or criminal action in court. Pending the issuance or denial of the seizure order, the subject goods shall remain in constructive custody.
Engaging in Cartel as Economic Sabotage.
SEC. 10. Engaging in Cartel as Economic Sabotage. - There shall be prima facie evidence of engagement in cartel as economic sabotage when two (2) or more persons competing for the same market and dealing in the same agricultural and fishery products agree to perform uniform, simultaneous, or complementary acts among themselves and actually perform such acts designed to artificially and unreasonably increase or manipulate the supply or prices of such projects, thereby stifling competition, as defined as in Section 14 of Republic Act No. 10667 or the "Philippine Competition Act", to the detriment of consumers, or the decrease in farmgate prices to the detriment of the agricultural and fishery producers:
Provided, That an agreement herein refers to any type or form of contract, arrangement, understanding, collective recommendation, or concerned action, whether formal or informal, explicit or tacit, written or oral:
Provided, further, That any person or persons include unincorporated entity or entities, domestic or foreign, including those owned or controlled by the government, engaged directly or indirectly in any economic activity.
The Enforcement Group, on the strength of a LOA issued by the Council, shall have the authority to visit areas where the agricultural and fishery products suspected to be the subject of cartel are located and shall give due notice to the relevant persons, who may be persons suspected of engaging in cartel, to provide justification within twenty-four (24) hours for the unreasonable increase of prices or manipulation of supply or prices of said products, such as cost of acquisition and sales receipts, or documentary proof that stocks are within normal inventory level or final contracts of sale covering existing stocks, whichever is applicable under the circumstances, pending which the products shall be placed in the constructive custody of the Enforcement Group.
In the event that the relevant persons fail to provide justifiable reasons within twenty-four (24) hours for the unreasonable increase of price or manipulation of supply or prices, the products shall remain in constructive custody and shall be the subject of a criminal action to be filed against the violators.
Source: Supreme Court E-Library, Republic of the Philippines. Philippine laws are public documents (works of the government).
