BANGKO Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Felipe Medalla confirmed what I elaborated on last week: that quantitative (import) restrictions (QRs) and arbitrary issuances of sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) clearances by the Department of Agriculture (DA) were encouraging rent-seeking (corruption) in the government.
He claimed in a meeting of senior economic officials that import quotas resulted in the formation of cartels as import allocations are likely to be distributed to 'mga kaibigan' .Through QRs and the selective issuance of SPS clearances, the government can regulate import volumes and the timing of their entry, and also assign quotas to favored individuals and companies. This results in a cartel-type operation where prices are manipulated to gain enormous windfall profits.
The result is the continuing high prices of seafood, which is a major source of protein for the poor.When I was in the DA, I complained that the price of galunggong imported from China or Vietnam was just P55 per kilo and its landed cost at around P85 per kilo yet its retail price was P240 per kilo. To drive home the point, I calculated that if 60,000 MT was allowed, and if the profit obtained was at P100 per kilo, the net gain from the transaction easily added up to P6 billion.
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