Butch Fernandez

The chair of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Food, and Agrarian Reform announced plans to conduct a committee hearing into the attempted smuggling of around P700 million worth of rice from Vietnam.

Senator Francis Pangilinan made a manifestation during the Senate’s plenary session last October 8. He said the incident raises serious concerns over the continued lack of convictions of big-time smugglers and how this apparent impunity allows large-scale smuggling operations to persist.

“Mr. President, nais nating tiyakin na mababantayan natin itong mga kasong ito (we want to make sure we can watch this) through your Committee on Agriculture. And therefore, we request, para mabantayan natin (so we can track it) and to exercise our oversight functions, that this manifestation be referred to the Committee on Agriculture,” he said.

He said this ensures a “more vigilant” monitoring of the case and its quick resolution, as well as punishment for those behind the “P700 million pesos worth of Vietnam rice surreptitiously and illegally brought into the country.”

Pangilinan, an advocate of the rights and welfare of farmers and fisherfolk for more than a decade, said the attempted rice smuggling is particularly alarming given its direct impact on the livelihood of Filipino rice farmers and the country’s food security.

“They are killing our local farmers. They are taking advantage of the misery of our farnmers, and that’s why it’s important to watch this.”

According to reports, the Bureau of Customs (BOC), in coordination with the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Philippine Navy (PN), apprehended MV Tay Son 2 and MV Lucky Star last month because of questionable documentation and the cancellation of vital sanitary permits.

MV Tay Son 2, which was carrying 12,500 (MT) of rice, attempted to leave the Port of Davao without completing the required Customs processing, prompting the Philippine Navy to intercept and apprehend the vessel on the high seas.

MV Lucky Star, which was apprehended at the Port of Limay because its import permit was not consistent with the actual contents of the shipment, was found with nearly 7,500 MT of rice.

The two vessels are believed to be carrying a combined 20,000 MT of Vietnamese rice, with an estimated value of around P700 million based on the prevailing world market price of $420 per metric ton.

“And because of this, Mr. President, many people are encouraged to smuggle and many are willing to conspire with them because there’s so much big money in smuggling agriculture products,” Pangilinan said, partly in Filipino.

Despite Republic Act 12022, or the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act, setting the threshold at P10 million for an agricultural economic sabotage case to be non-bailable, no big-time smugglers have been jailed, he lamented.

“Sadly, however, the record of apprehension leading to imprisonment and conviction, thus far, is dismal. That’s why we can say, no big-time billionaire smugglers have been jailed for this crime. There are many cases of seizure, confiscation, but when it comes to conviction, there seems to be some going on,” he said.

“Perhaps this time, with P700 million confiscated, we can see some billionaire smuggler in jail.”

This is not the first time the senator has called out the low conviction rates for cases involving agricultural smuggling. He made the same remarks during a recent Committee on Justice hearing that he headed.

Previously, he also flagged that only four out of the 132 agricultural smuggling-related cases from 2021 to 2025 have been filed before the Department of Justice (DOJ) because of the BOC’s failure to provide proper and correct documents.

Published Date: October 12, 2026