Corn farmers belonging to the Philippine Maize Federation (Philmaize) urged the Department of Agriculture (DA) to investigate the presence of a foreign vessel suspected of carrying smuggled corn in Iloilo.
Philmaize President Roger Navarro made the request in a letter he sent to Agriculture Assistant Secretary Edilberto de Luna. Navarro told de Luna that MV Sun Bright was bringing in the corn for Sucre Enterprises, represented by Rolly Chua and a Hong Kong-based firm known only as Agricom.
Navarro said the supplier was Oltran Vietnam, which was previously known as Vinacom.
He asked the DA to conduct an immediate investigation, verification and validation of technical smuggling in Iloilo.
Navarro said the shipment did not have the requisite Certificate of Origin or Form D, making the consignee and the shipper liable for violating regulations of the Bureau of Customs (BOC).
He said the BOC refused to permit the unloading of the corn since it did not have a Certificate of Origin or Form D.
The group suspects that the cargo came from countries in South America or the United States, which had bumper harvests of the grain.
As of press time, Chua and Agricom could not be reached for comment.
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said corn production for 2014 is projected to hit 7.75 million metric tons (MMT), 5.1 percent higher than the 2013 output level of 7.38 MMT.
The PSA said harvest area may expand to 2.61 million hectares, 1.9 percent higher than last year’s 2.56 million hectares. Yield may improve to 2.97 metric tons (MT) from 2.88 MT per hectare, or by 3.2 percent.
Marvyn Benaning