DA: Tiu Laurel ordered rice shipment permit revoked before arrival

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Agriculture (DA) on Wednesday said Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. had ordered the revocation of the sanitary and phytosanitary import clearance for a vessel carrying suspected smuggled rice before it arrived in the Philippines.

According to the DA, the decision came after Tiu Laurel received “derogatory” information about the shipment. The vessel carrying the shipment later attempted to leave the Port of Davao.

“It was the DA, through my office, that stopped the shipment by ordering the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) to cancel its sanitary and phytosanitary import clearance, even though the vessel was already on its way to the Philippines,” Tiu Laurel said.

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He also said the permit was canceled at the request of Planters Product Inc. (PPI), which was importing 25% broken rice but was informed that the vessel contained 5% broken rice. He added that PPI had told him the import contract had already expired because the delivery was originally scheduled for July.

Tiu Laurel issued the statement as he criticized the agency’s detractors for “painting a false picture of this incident, suggesting malice and corruption through insinuations that border on libel.”

A document from PPI dated Oct. 7, 2024, identified Tiu Laurel as chairman of Planters Foundation Inc., the company’s principal stockholder, which holds 79.24% of PPI’s shares.

During a Senate session on Oct. 8, Sen. Francis Pangilinan said about 20,000 metric tons of Vietnamese rice had been seized from two vessels on Sept. 17 and Sept. 21, with the shipments valued at about P700 million.

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The Bureau of Customs (BOC) said it had apprehended the MV Tay Son 2 and MV Lucky Star with the assistance of the DA and the Philippine Navy over the cancellation of their sanitary permits and possible violations of permit conditions. The MV Tay Son 2 was carrying 12,500 metric tons of rice, while the MV Lucky Star, which was intercepted in Limay, Bataan, had 7,500 metric tons.

In a separate ambush interview on Wednesday, BOC Commissioner Ariel Nepomuceno said the MV Tay Son 2 had attempted to leave the Port of Davao without undergoing mandatory inspections by Customs personnel. He said the vessel’s permit had been canceled after it left Vietnam, although it had a valid permit when it departed.

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Nepomuceno said that after the vessel left the Davao port, the BOC sought assistance from the Philippine Coast Guard and the Philippine Navy to apprehend it. Tiu Laurel said that after learning of the vessel’s departure, he instructed the DA’s Inspectorate and Enforcement Office to issue a hold order on the cargo.

Nepomuceno also said he had spoken with Tiu Laurel about the shipment and that the agriculture secretary told him the vessel did not have his authorization. He added that the BOC was closely monitoring the vessel’s entry into Philippine ports.

“The BOC has the capacity to monitor suspected rice shipments, whether they have permits or not. When the vessel was on its way to the Philippines, Secretary Laurel called to ask us to monitor it and prevent it from entering our ports. I told him that we would do our job regardless of what was happening at the DA,” he added.

Nepomuceno also said the shipment was considered smuggled because it did not have a valid sanitary and phytosanitary permit when it arrived in the country.

Auction of rice

Nepomuceno said the BOC was planning to auction the rice seized in Davao to prevent its quality from deteriorating.

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“The proceeds will be placed in an escrow account. If the BOC wins the case and the rice is ruled to have been smuggled, the funds will be remitted to the Bureau of the Treasury as government revenue. If the importer, Planters, wins, the funds will go to the company. But we have a strong case because the shipment had no permit,” he added. /das