THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) said it seized P5-million worth of smuggled fruits and vegetables that were believed to be contributing to the dampening of farm-gate prices of local crops in recent months.
The BOC said the seizure was the result of several inspections it conducted across multiple warehouses in Manila last Tuesday. The warehouses held hundreds of crates of agricultural products from China, the BOC added.
The BOC explained that the operations stemmed after local traders in Benguet complained that smuggled vegetables were causing poor sales of their produce even during the peak Christmas season.
“‘We hear you.’ That’s what we want to say to our vegetable farmers and traders,” Customs Commissioner Bienvenido Y. Rubio said last Wednesday. Rubio added the bureau wants to assure farmers and traders “that we are going after these groups and we are being diligent in prosecuting them, so they cannot victimize our hard-working farmers again.”
“This is why we are committed as ever to come after these smuggling groups—it is our farmers, our economy, and our consumers that we aim to protect with these operations,” added the BOC chief.
The BOC said its agents from the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service at the Manila International Container Port (CIIS-MICP) and the National Bureau of Investigation-Anti-Organized and Transnational Crime Division (NBI-AOTCD) went to three warehouses—one in San Nicolas and two in Binondo—to implement the Letters of Authority (LOAs).
BOC-CIIS Director Verne Y. Enciso said the national government’s composite team inspected the warehouses and discovered fresh imported broccoli worth P2 million in the San Nicolas storage. The team also found a warehouse of WSH Trading in Santo Cristo Street in Binondo containing fresh imported vegetables and fruits.
“Among these were bell pepper, garlic sprout, volcanic sweet potato, cauliflower, lotus root, corn, spinach, romaine, mushroom, oranges, strawberry, grapes, pear, melon, kiwi, apple, longgan, and cherry tomato, which amounted to more or less P2 million,” the BOC said.
The BOC added that another storage in El Cano Street in Binondo yielded cauliflower, yam, water bamboo, lotus root, spinach, tomato, baby cabbage, crown daisy, and apple with an estimated value of P1 million.
“These were just the initial assessment of the value of these goods. There will be a thorough inventory and inspection of the goods found to determine the exact value, so we can file the appropriate cases against the owners of the warehouses and the companies and people behind these smuggling activities,” Enciso said.
The inventory of the goods will be conducted by the assigned Customs examiners, and to be witnessed by agents from CIIS and the respective warehouse representatives, according to the BOC.
Customs Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence Juvymax R. Uy emphasized that curbing agricultural smuggling remains one of the priorities of the bureau.
“I believe I speak here for everyone when I say we are equally frustrated by reports from farmers and traders that their Christmas sales were severely impacted by smuggling. Anti-smuggling operations go through a long and rigorous process, but this process also ensures we will put these perpetrators in courts and behind bars,” Uy said.
The BOC said it gave the owners of the warehouses 15 days to present the proper documents “to clear out allegations they were storing illegally imported vegetables and fruits.”
If found without proper documents, the corresponding seizure and forfeiture proceedings will be conducted against the subject shipments for violation of pertinent laws, according to the BOC.