00:00President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. ordered the government agencies to look into the fight against agricultural smuggling
00:09with the help of the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act.
00:14The President, after leading the distribution of smuggled mackerels this weekend,
00:21invited Kenneth Paciente to the center of the news.
00:25In the pursuit of food security,
00:30President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. led the distribution of smuggled mackerels by the authorities
00:36worth P178 million.
00:39Hundreds of families in Baseco Compound in Manila received two kilograms of mackerels.
00:46According to the Department of Agriculture and our customs,
00:51they saw that the papers were incomplete and the payment was incomplete.
00:56That's why the government started smuggling.
01:00That's how it happened.
01:03But as you can see, it's still in the freezer.
01:08It's such a waste.
01:11It's a terrible fish.
01:14There's a lot of food.
01:17There's a lot to eat.
01:20That's why we're distributing it to you,
01:27so that you can help.
01:29So that you can sell fish.
01:31This is a big help to my family, sir.
01:36We are thankful.
01:39If it wasn't for this fish, I wouldn't be able to feed my children.
01:43It's a big help.
01:46Because it's hard to earn money.
01:49The President insisted that the government should be more strict
01:53in order to avoid smuggling of any product.
01:57And if such incidents happen again,
02:00where any product or agricultural products are smuggled,
02:03those products will definitely go to the people.
02:06Because of the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act.
02:10What they're doing is, they're smuggling it in,
02:13then they'll close it.
02:15They won't let it out.
02:16They'll wait until the price goes up.
02:18When the price goes up, they'll buy it.
02:21That's what we're avoiding.
02:24Because the victims are the people,
02:26our regular citizens.
02:29That's why we won't allow this kind of system to continue.
02:34Before the distribution,
02:36the Punong Ejecutivo inspected the container vans
02:39that contained the smuggled fish.
02:42Here, the President gave a directive
02:44to the relevant government agencies
02:46to make sure that the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act is implemented.
02:51Especially the smugglers who smuggle fish to the market in the Philippines.
02:55This is the chain that we need to break.
03:02This is the first case under the new law
03:07of the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act.
03:12I've spoken to our Bureau of Customs,
03:19I've spoken to the Department of Agriculture.
03:21We have to keep going.
03:24The smugglers fled the 21 containers
03:28that were smuggled into the country,
03:30but the Bureau of Customs was able to stop them
03:32due to the lack of documents.
03:34The Sanitary and Phytosanitary Import Clearance
03:37from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources
03:39is already in place.
03:40The smugglers were also able to be distributed
03:42to other parts of the NCR,
03:44including Regions 3 and 4A,
03:46where 150,000 families are expected to benefit.
03:51In September, frozen mackerels were caught
03:54and in October, they were tested
03:56and found to be safe for human consumption.
04:00Kenneth Paciente, for Pambansang TV, in Bagong, Philippines.
