During a House committee hearing on Tuesday, an agriculture cooperative accused a Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) officer of extortion and smuggling onions into the country, according to Tina Panganiban-Perez of “24 Oras.”
Wilma Ocampo of Cambridge Cooperative stated that numerous Department of Agriculture (DA) personnel sought to extort P500,000 from her group in exchange for the release of their imported vegetables from seaports during the House probe into alleged agricultural product smuggling in the country.
“Dinala nila ako sir sa kubo, dun sa may likod ng BPI. Mayroon pong CCTV doon tapos kinuha nila ang cellphone ko. Ang tara daw po sa pagpaparating ng mga gulay na mixed vegetable ay P500,000. Under daw sila ni Jesusa Ascutia,” she said.
(They took me, sir, to the hut behind the BPI. There was CCTV there, and then they took my cellphone. The tariff for the delivery of mixed vegetables is said to be P500,000. They seem to be under Jesus Ascutia.)
“Unang tawad nila P180,000. Sabi naman nila, sige P150,000…take it or leave it,” she added.
(Their first bargain is P180,000. After that, they agreed on P150,000…take it or leave it.)
DA officials accused of vegetable smuggling, extortion attempt
Ascutia is a BPI official, according to Agriculture Secretary William Dar.
In response to Ocampo’s allegations, the DA-BPI said that the cooperative imported fresh veggies from China, which was prohibited in the Philippines. It further noted that the country could only accept frozen vegetables.
Apart from the extortion charges, the hearing also revealed Ascutia’s alleged participation in smuggling white onions into the country.
It was discovered that between January and February 2022, at least 7,871 metric tons of white onions entered the Philippines, although the importation license had expired on December 31, 2021.
“Madami pong umiiyak sa ‘tin na mga magsasaka noong January at February na nalugi dahil sila ay nagtanim ng sibuyas pero sobrang bumagsak ang presyo. Mukhang ito ang dahilan kaya nalugi ang ating mga magsasaka. May pinapasok pala na mga sibuyas dito sila Ms. Ascutia kahit na walang valid import permit,” Magsasaka Partylist Rep. Argel Cabatbat said.
(Many of our farmers in January and February cried because they went bankrupt because they planted onions, but the price dropped so much. This seems to be the reason why our farmers went bankrupt. It turns out that they bring onions here, Ms. Ascutia, even without a valid import permit.)
The pro-farmers group requested that Ascutia be invited to the next meeting to address the allegations against her, including her alleged unpaid regulatory fees of over P35 million during her time as station manager in Danao City, Cebu.
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