Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales appears to have a difficult time explaining to senators why rampant smuggling of onions continues during a joint hearing conducted by the Senate committees on trade and commerce. (Photo by LUIS BOY GARCIA)

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile challenged on Monday Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales to vacate his post if he could not contain the pesky and unabated containerized smuggling of onions that continue to destroy the livelihood of onion-producing provinces in central and Northern Luzon and the Cordilleras.

Enrile hurled the challenge after Morales’ testimony before three Senate committees on the onion smuggling issue apparently failed to make a good impression on Enrile and Senators Manuel “Mar’’ A. Roxas II and Loren Legarda.

The Senate chief appeared riled by Morales’ statement that his office could not submit inward foreign manifests of shipments to non-government organizations and farmers’ groups because of objections by foreign chambers of commerce.

“If I were the President (of the Philippines), I will kick you out,’’ Enrile, a former customs commissioner, told Morales, adding that Morales should enforce the laws and let the foreign chambers of commerce file a suit against the government agencies for following the laws and regulations.

“The Bureau of Customs (BoC) is not only the government’s revenue-raising agency. It is the first line of defense for our industries. The people are suspicious whether you are really doing your job. The people’s impression is that you have a very strong backer,’’ Enrile said.

Jesus Arranza, president of the Federation of Philippine Industries (FPI), said the Philippines loses some P150 billion in revenue due to smuggling based on the figures of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) while the estimates at the Bureau of Customs placed the revenue leak due to smuggling at about P65 billion.

Arranza bewailed that there is still no formal reply by Morales on the huge revenue leak. He said his letter to Finance Secretary Margarito Teves on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) figure was referred to Morales six months ago.

He claimed onion smuggling flourishes because onion importers are “fictitious.” He said what is needed is a certification of the shipments from the exporting country. He said x-ray operators in ports should be punished if they are found to have allowed vans containing onions to pass through the customs gates.

A native of Cagayan province, which also produces onions, Enrile said the unchecked onion smuggling is destroying the livelihood of Filipinos.

‘’And you can’t protect them (farmers)? If you can’t do your job, get the hell out of their. Tama na ang kalokohan,’’ Enrile angrily said.

Enrile said unchecked smuggling means the Philippine government is subsidizing foreign farmers who benefit from this nefarious activity.

At the close of the hearing, Enrile, Roxas and Legarda told customs officials that they have to enter into a written agreement with the Senate committees on the “to dos’’ of the customs bureau.

Enrile said his call for Morales to leave the customs post “may not happen but it is my right as a duly-elected senator to call the attention of the government to fire these people.’’

He said onion smuggling has become rampant because smugglers “are big fishers’’ because they would have no temerity to smuggle “if they do not have connections and you cannot smuggle if you do not bribe.’’

Roxas, chairman of the Senate trade and commerce committee, said the customs bureau’s rules are the ones helping smugglers.

As a former Trade Secretary in the Estrada and Arroyo administrations, Roxas said onion smuggling is being mysteriously allowed to flourish through the years.

Roxas strongly urged customs officials to do something to help farmers so that Senate committee hearings do not end up as a “pingpong’’ game.

He strongly suggested that the government or the customs bureau itself train dogs to sniff at hundreds of dry or refrigerated vans whether or not they contain onions brought in from abroad daily at the Manila International Container Port (MICP) and other ports that continue to kill the agriculture sector, particularly onion-producing provinces.