Senate ratifies bill making agri smuggling non-bailable

The Senate has ratified the bicameral conference version of the bill that seeks to make agricultural smuggling a non-bailable offense, according to the principal author Sen. JV Ejercito.

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This means the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Bill now needs only the signature of President Marcos to become a law, Ejercito said. The bill is a priority measure.

The Senate ratified the bicameral conference committee report on the measure Wednesday night before the sine die adjournment.

The bill aims to repeal Republic Act 10845, or the "Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act," and introduce harsher penalties for smuggling, hoarding, profiteering, and forming cartels for agricultural and fishery products.

Ejercito said the measure would level the playing field for local farmers as it "will purge our land of profiteers, hoarders, and cartels." "They are the pests who are choking our agricultural sector. This bill will uproot them and put them in jail, where they belong,” he said.

Ejercito lauded Sen. Cynthia Villar for her efforts in helping pass the bill in the Senate.