Tiu Laurel alleges smear campaign by rice smugglers amid import controversy

PROBE. Agriculture Secretary Francis Tiu Laurel attends the Senate hearing on the high prices of food and other basic agricultural commodities, on August 20, 2025.

Angie de Silva/Rappler

'I’m clearly under attack,' Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. tells a Senate panel during a budget hearing

AT A GLANCE

• Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. claims he is the target of an orchestrated attack by smugglers following reports of illegal rice imports linked to him.
• The controversy involves a shipment of over 12,000 metric tons of rice from Vietnam, which Tiu Laurel asserts he attempted to stop by canceling the import permit before it arrived.
• Calls for Tiu Laurel's temporary leave of absence have emerged due to concerns about conflicts of interest, as he regulates imports while being linked to the importing company.

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Following reports of illegal rice imports involving a company linked to him, Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. can only surmise that he is the target of an orchestrated attack by “the hands of smugglers.”

“I’m clearly under attack,” Tiu Laurel said during the budget hearing Wednesday, October 21. “For what reasons I really don’t know but I can only smell the hands of smugglers na tinira namin dati (that we took on before.)”

The “attacks” were reports about a shipment of more than 12,000 metric tons of rice from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, aboard the M/V Tay Son 2, and its alleged links to Tiu Laurel. The shipment appeared off Davao on September 14, more than a month after the deadline (before July 31) set in the contract between Aditya Birla Global Trading and Planters Products Incorporated (PPI).

What is the connection to the head of the Department of Agriculture (DA)? The company that imported the rice was PPI. Planters Foundation Incorporated, where Tiu Laurel serves as ex officio chairman, holds a majority of PPI’s outstanding shares.

Tiu Laurel’s said he serves as ex officio chairman because of executive issuances, and that he stopped the shipment (by canceling the import permit) before it arrived. 

“Imagine ako na nga ‘yung ex-officio ng PPI, alam ko na PPI ‘yan, alam ko PPI din ‘yung consignee, ako pa rin nagpahinto,” said a visibly frustrated Tiu Laurel during the hearing, where he also had printed screenshots of his messages and instructions regarding the shipment ready. 

“So is doing a good thing bad? It is not. I did the right thing.” 

He said he even sent a boat from their family operations in General Santos to look for the vessel and take pictures. “Talagang hinanap namin (We really looked for it).” Tiu Laurel, a fishing magnate, comes from the family that owns Frabelle. 

Agriculture secretaries have served as the ex officio chairman of the foundation. As Leonardo Montemayor, himself a former DA chief, said, “It can be any secretary.” 

Since 1984, when the late former president Ferdinand E. Marcos issued Letter of Instructions (LOI) no. 1428, the minister of agriculture and food held the chairmanship of Planters Foundation Incorporated. Other cabinet members make up the foundation’s board, based on the LOI.

Montemayor, along with other groups, nonetheless are calling for Tiu Laurel’s temporary leave of absence as a show of delicadeza. 

“How can it be?” Montemayor told reporters Tuesday, October 21. “You are both the investigated and the one regulating imports, issuing permits, and canceling permits.”

Framed?

By the end of the budget hearing, presided over by Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, Tiu Laurel said he was willing to be subjected to an inquiry. 

“Kung kami may kasalanan, may kasalanan kami,” Tiu Laurel said. “Kung wala kaming kasalanan, masabi na para matigil na to.” (If we’re at fault, then we’re at fault. If it’s not our fault, then let it be revealed so this ends.)

And then there was a moment of sympathy in the room. Senator Pangilinan recounted his time as presidential assistant for food security during the Aquino administration, when the National Food Authority administrator “was framed by traders.” 

“What you’re going through, I went through,” said Pangilinan. “And for what? Because we were going after smugglers and traders who were messing up our rice supply.” – Rappler.com