00:00Smuggling does not only sneak in products into the country, it also deprives revenues for the government due to non-payment of tax duties.
00:08Not thousands, not millions, but billions and billions of pesos.
00:13The executive branch and the House of Representatives have their priorities laid out to encourage non-taxpayers to pay their taxes and intensify efforts against agricultural smugglings.
00:25Our VEL Custodio has more in this report.
00:26Up to 44 billion pesos in funds have been lost from the scene tax due to illicit tobacco smuggling according to House Committee on Waste and Means Chairperson Representative Miro Kimbo.
00:40The taxes that could have been collected from this would have helped government's health programs.
00:45Ang effect ng smuggling, dalawang bagay. Nawawalan tayo ng taxes na kinakailangan natin.
00:51Last year, more than 44 billion ang nawala. Pero more significantly, huwag natin kakalimutan na ang nakokolekta natin sa sin tax, kalahati niyan ay napupunta sa programang kalusugan.
01:05Sa pill health.
01:06Particularly pill health.
01:07Yeah.
01:08Because smuggled cigarettes avoid tax payments, their prices become more accessible to the youth.
01:14According to Representative Kimbo, it is important to raise revenue by intensifying the campaign against smuggling.
01:20One is to stop yung cheating. So yan yun, particularly on smuggling. And then pangalawa is ang atin naman po itinutulak na bago is na priority din po ng executive is yung tax amnesty.
01:36The executive branch is also pushing for the comprehensive tax amnesty to encourage non-taxpayers to return to paying their taxes.
01:43This includes a voluntary declaration of debt assets and the payment of taxes based on these declarations.
01:50So ibig sabihin kung ikaw ay mayaman, matagal ka tumatakas sa buwis, or kahit maliit ka na tindahan. So this is your chance para you have a clean slate, burado lahat.
02:01And then moving forward, binibigyan ka ng pagkakataon na maging kasali na sa tax system.
02:08Aside from tobacco smuggling, another problem being faced by the country is agricultural smuggling.
02:15House Speaker Faustino Bojidi III is prioritizing the intensification of anti-agricultural smuggling efforts.
02:22Congress will focus on agricultural smuggling, particularly the illegal importation of rice, carrots, and onions.
02:29Kimbo said that onion smuggling in the country is operated by a large mafia.
02:33Captured nila lahat eh.
02:35Yung trader po na bumibili sa ating mga onion farm growers sa Nueva Ecea, at yung importer na nagdadala galing India tsaka China,
02:48and yung may-ari ng logistics na nagdadala ng onions galing sa Nueva Ecea, yung galing sa airport papunta sa cold storage,
02:58at yung cold storage, sila-sila po nagsasabwatan.
03:02So ito yung buong value chain ng onion kontrolado ng isang sindikato.
03:10The decision of Philippine Competition Commission or PCC on the penalties for the pending onion smuggling case is now being awaited.
03:18The PCC may also recommend criminal prosecution before the office of the Ombudsman.
03:22According to Kimbo, the PCC's decision is expected to be released before President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.'s State of the Nation address in July.
03:32Vel custodio for the National TV Network for a new and better Philippine.
