THE Department of Agriculture (DA) called on the Bureau of Customs (BOC) to suspend the release of 59 container vans recently unloaded at the Subic Bay Freeport amid strong suspicion they contain smuggled agricultural products, including onions and fish.
The DA said in a statement on Thursday the containers are consigned to five trading firms, all under review for possible blacklisting.
The agency said that last year alone, it blacklisted 18 companies for smuggling.
“Under the new Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Law, we can pursue not just consignees, but customs brokers, transporters, sellers, and buyers. Smuggling is no longer a victimless crime, we are going after the entire supply chain,” Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said.
The DA said the power to seize misdeclared shipments rests with the BOC, which operates under the Department of Finance.
“It’s infuriating that dozens of container vans loaded with undeclared agricultural products are still making it onto Philippine soil,” Tiu Laurel said. “This is unacceptable and there will be no letup in our campaign against smugglers. We will pursue them relentlessly.”
He added that since most smuggled farm products come from China, the DA will soon implement a country-specific risk assessment to help stem the tide of illegal imports.
Earlier this week, DA, together with BOC and the Bureau of Plant Industry, intercepted six container vans carrying imported onions and mackerel valued at over P34 million. They were falsely declared as containing processed food.
The agency said that upon joint inspection, three of the six 40-foot container vans were found to hold approximately 74 metric tons of fresh red onions valued at around P10.3 million.
Meanwhile, one container held yellow onions worth P3.82 million, and two others contained frozen mackerel with an estimated value of between P13 million and P20 million.
The agriculture department said the listed consignee for two onion-loaded vans was Latinx Consumer Goods Trading, while the remaining four with yellow onions and mackerel were consigned to Lexxa Consumer Goods Trading. The department said both violated the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Law and may face a fine amounting to five times the value of the smuggled or hoarded agricultural products and life imprisonment.
Under the law, smuggling or hoarding of agricultural commodities is classified as economic sabotage if the value of the goods exceeds P10 million.
