Manila, Feb. 10 -- The Senate Committee on Agriculture, Food and Agrarian Reform on Tuesday zeroed in on the financial backers behind large-scale agricultural smuggling as it examined arrests, unserved warrants, and billions of pesos worth of imported farm goods linked to firms cited in the inquiry.

Presiding over the hearing, committee chair Senator Francis Pangilinan said smuggling cases often follow the same pattern seen in other corruption scandals, involving accomplices across government, the private sector, and politics.

"I don't believe that the PHP133 million worth of smuggled mackerel and onions that came in had no financier," he said.

Pangilinan questioned claims that companies involved in multi-billion-peso importations oper...