00:00 The Department of Agriculture is investigating the repeated smuggling of smuggled agricultural products
00:08 where instead of being destroyed, they are being returned to the owner, Clay Salpardilla, in the center of the news.
00:19 They are being buried in the ground or placed in incinerators. This is how smuggled agricultural products should be handled.
00:30 But according to a source of PTD News, there is a diversion going on.
00:35 The illegal products that are being thrown away in anti-agricultural smuggling operations should be destroyed.
00:42 They are being sold back to the owner.
00:45 The Department of Agriculture is investigating this and is addressing the issue.
00:50 That is our initial findings. But as far as the last few months that we are condemning are concerned,
00:59 everything has been condemned properly with the enforcement unit.
01:08 So far, I don't know much about what is happening.
01:13 According to the Ministry of Agriculture, this mode of handling is not new.
01:19 The products that are being smuggled, there are reports that this is what is happening.
01:28 It's expired or not for human consumption.
01:33 It's being returned. The products are not being handled properly.
01:43 If this is recycled, it can be sold in the market.
01:47 In the so-called Private Sector Advisory Council Agriculture Sector Group meeting in Malacanang,
01:53 President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. was asked to strengthen anti-smuggling measures.
01:59 Secretary Tew Laurel insisted that a condemnation facility should be built to throw away smuggled agri-products.
02:07 It's better if the DA will condemn all products caught illegally and formally ill or smuggled.
02:19 So that there will be no more foolishness.
02:25 It's better because when it comes in, there will be a BOC and a BNP.
02:34 If it's illegally smuggled, it should be thrown away so that there will be a condemnation.
02:48 That's how we deal with the area. It's easier to monitor.
02:53 Products from countries with African Swine Fever, Bird Flu or Outbreak of Disease are usually confiscated
03:02 because it is a threat to the health of people or to the agriculture sector.
03:07 Kaleysal Pardilia for Pambansang TV in Bagong, Philippines.
