Speaker lauds Customs, urges stronger crackdown vs agricultural smuggling

February 15, 2025 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — Speaker Martin Romualdez yesterday commended the Bureau of Customs (BOC) for its intensified campaign against smuggling, citing the agency’s seizure of P85.1 billion worth of contraband and the successful conduct of over 2,100 anti-smuggling operations in 2024.

While Romualdez recognized these significant achievements, he reiterated the urgent need to step up enforcement efforts against agricultural smuggling, which remains a serious threat to local farmers and food security. 

“Customs is doing a great job against smuggling, but we should not stop. We need to intensify the campaign against agricultural smuggling that is destroying the livelihood of our farmers and makes life harder to the people,” Romualdez said in a statement.

The Speaker raised alarming reports of massive rice shipments left uncollected at ports and stockpiling of frozen chicken imports, fueling suspicions of deliberate supply manipulation. 

He stressed that these immoral and illegal schemes hurt farmers and consumers, distorting prices and putting the nation’s food security at risk.

“Let us not allow smuggling and hoarding being used against economy. We need to stop the syndicates and ensure that basic food are affordable to each Filipino,” Romualdez said.

Unified PWD ID 

Meanwhile, the Speaker threw his full support behind the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)’s plan to establish a unified Person With Disability (PWD) ID system, urging the government to fast-track its implementation to end fraud, restore public trust and ensure rightful beneficiaries receive their privileges without undue burden.

He emphasized that a unified PWD ID system must be secure, efficient and tamper-proof to stop the widespread misuse of fake IDs, which has eroded confidence in the program and unfairly burdened legitimate persons with disabilities.

“Fake PWD ID is not simple cheating. It is a robbery against those who are truly with disabilities and to the businessmen who are abiding by the law. This has to stop,” Romualdez said. 

The Speaker lamented that rampant misuse of fraudulent PWD IDs has sparked tensions between businesses and legitimate PWDs, with many establishments forced to bear financial losses due to bogus claims.  

On the other hand, legitimate PWDs are unfairly scrutinized and forced to justify their disabilities every time they try to avail of benefits they are entitled to.

Romualdez hailed the DSWD’s initiative to introduce a unified ID system with enhanced security features, such as RFID technology, as a long-overdue reform that must be implemented without unnecessary bureaucratic delays.