Mayor Victorio T. Palangdan underscored the urgent need for concerned government agencies and local governments to create a local anti-smuggling task force to be assigned in the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and the Department of Agriculture (DA) to monitor the unabated entry of smuggled vegetables that directly compete with locally produced to address the serious negative impact on the province’s agriculture industry.
Palangdan pointed out that it is high time that the provincial government heavily invests in the organization of the local anti-smuggling task force to take charge in monitoring the entry of smuggled vegetables.
The local chief executive claimed that Benguet must continue to preserve and protect its status as the major producer of highland vegetables in the country by ensuring that smuggled agricultural crops that directly compete with the province’s products should not be easily shipped into the country without undergoing the rigid processes in the BOC.
Palangdan claimed that the serious problem of the local agriculture industry on the unabated entry of smuggled agricultural crops has been a recurring concern of agriculture industry over the past several decades that trace back to the time of the late Rep. Nestor B. Fongwan, Sr. which had not been effectively addressed by concerned government agencies.
He urged vegetable farmers, traders and consumers to continue to be vigilant in reporting to concerned government agencies and the local governments the presence of smuggled vegetables to ensure that appropriate actions will be taken.