Photo Release

Huge losses from misdeclared rice imports: Sen. Francis Pangilinan stresses the huge losses incurred from misdeclaration in rice importation owing to the lack of experts in the Bureau of Customs (BOC) who are capacitated to classify rice. Pangilinan, during the virtual hearing of the Committee on Agriculture, Food, and Agrarian Reform Thursday, October 22, 2020, said five percent broken rice is passed off as 25 percent broken, which has a price difference of $50 per metric ton. “It’s not only the quantity, but the quality of rice because we incur huge losses from misdeclared 25 percent broken rice and the BOC has no capacity to classify well-milled or regular-milled rice. That must be acted upon immediately because there is a huge leakage there,” Pangilinan said. (Screen grab/ Senate PRIB)