MANILA— The government seized ₱11.6 billion worth of smuggled agricultural products in 67 operations conducted from February 2025 to July 2026, as authorities intensified efforts to combat agricultural economic sabotage, Executive Secretary Ralph Recto said.

The operations also resulted in the filing of administrative or criminal complaints against 218 individuals, whom Recto said authorities would pursue until “justice is served.”

“Smugglers do not only evade duties but food safety checks. We should not let degraded food meant for dumpsters in other countries end up in our own tables,” Recto said in a statement.

Recto warned that the anticipated El Niño dry spell in the coming months could create opportunities for agricultural smugglers to exploit potential supply shortages.

“Crisis creates opportunities, and when water shortage looms, the smugglers see this as a cue to flood the market with their illicit products.”

He stressed that increasing domestic agricultural production remains the government’s primary strategy for ensuring food security, alongside efforts to suppress smuggling.

“The President wants escalation on two fronts. The first is to boost production, more so that every year we are adding 1.5 million to our population, and that is the demographic reality. And the second is to curb smuggling because it disincentives local production,” Recto said.

The intensified campaign is being pursued under Republic Act 12022, or the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act, which President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. signed into law in September 2024. The measure expands the range of punishable acts and imposes higher fines and longer prison terms on violators.

Under the law, a Special Team of Prosecutors was established to handle cases against alleged violators. The team recently secured the conviction of seven smugglers of tobacco products.

The law also established the multisectoral Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Council to coordinate a whole-of-nation approach to combating agricultural smuggling.

To strengthen the council’s operations, the Department of Budget and Management has authorized 49 additional positions requiring multidisciplinary skills for its full-time secretariat, which is headed by retired Police Maj. Gen. Leonora Camarao as executive director.

Recto said the council must go beyond periodic meetings and reporting to sustain enforcement efforts throughout the week.

The government is also looking into using information technology to strengthen surveillance along the country’s extensive coastline and address vulnerabilities that smugglers could exploit.

“One particular challenge is how to tap information technologies to plug our porous borders along our long coastline, and render this inhospitable to smugglers,” Recto said.

He added that the government was shifting away from occasional enforcement operations toward a continuous campaign targeting the networks behind agricultural smuggling and other forms of economic sabotage.

The effort aims to protect local producers, strengthen food security and prevent illegally imported agricultural goods from entering domestic markets.