Philippines: FPI seeks DA probe vs illegal use of imported palm olein

Published 2023년 1월 24일

Tridge summary

The Federation of Philippine Industries (FPI) has approached the Office of the President with claims that our government is being cheated out of billions of pesos and the domestic coconut industry is being harmed due to the illegal use of imported palm olein. FPI Chairman Jesus L. Arranza has provided evidence to the President and the Department of Agriculture, detailing how importers are evading taxes by misdeclaring palm olein as as animal feed and then selling it as biodiesel additive or cooking oil. This illegal activity not only causes financial loss to the government but also undersells coconut oil, harming coconut farmers. The FPI is calling for an investigation and action against these illegal practices, with the FPI and the Coconut Oil Refiners Association offering to present their findings in meetings and congressional hearings.

Disclaimer:The above summary was generated by Tridge's proprietary AI model for informational purposes.

Original content

The Office of the President (OP) has referred to the Department of Agriculture a petition by the Federation of Philippine Industries for the government to conduct an investigation over alleged illegal use of imported palm olein that has been robbing the government of billions of pesos in revenues while hurting the domestic coconut industry. In a statement, FPI Chairman Jesus L. Arranza said he wrote a letter to President Ferdinand E. Marcos Jr. on Dec. 5, 2022 discussing the association’s concern over the alleged illegal use of imported palm olein. The Presidential Management Staff, in a correspondence to Agriculture Undersecretary Domingo F. Panganiban, told the department to evaluate the merit of the request and take appropriate actions on the issues discussed by Arranza in his letter to the President. Arranza welcomed the response of the Office of the President to his letter as a big boost to the campaign against smuggling and other forms of illicit trade that are hurting the ...

Source: Mb