A total of P85-million frozen poultry products from China were confiscated by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) during a recent raid in Parañaque City.
Operatives from the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service-Manila International Container Port (CIIS-MICP) inspected a warehouse in the area and discovered various poultry products suspected to be without proper customs duties and taxes.
Commissioner Bienvenido Rubio said CIIS-MICP agents served the Letter of Authority (LOA) to a representative of the warehouse on Thursday.
“The audacity of these people to smuggle and hide agricultural products right in the heart of Metro Manila is beyond me. They belittle our laws and make a mockery of our hardworking Customs agents by thinking they can operate these illegal activities just a few kilometers from our port,” said Rubio on Sunday.
“Operations like these are proof of the seriousness of the work we do here and the commitment exemplified by our BOC officers to make those responsible face the law,” he added.
BOC-CIIS Director Verne Enciso—whose team worked together with the MICP, Department of Agriculture Inspectorate and Enforcement, and the Philippine Coast Guard—said the composite team found frozen duck, chicken, pork meat products and other items with questionable foreign markings.
“The initial inventory found that these poultry products will amount to about P85 million in the market. But we’re still determining the actual cost once final inventory is conducted by our examiners,” Enciso explained.
“Proper information, once vetted by BOC’s intelligence officers, lead to significant operations that ensure our markets are clean from unsafe, unhealthy, and illegal products,” he added.
CIIS and Enforcement and Security Service Intelligence Group Deputy Commissioner Juvymax Uy said the warehouse was temporarily padlocked and sealed to protect the subjected goods pending the final inventory of the confiscated goods.
“There is no room for error, especially when it involves the entry of illegal agricultural products because it affects our farmers and fisherfolk,” he noted.
The owners of the warehouses will be given 15 days to present the proper documents to clear out allegations they were hoarding imported agricultural products.
If found without proper documents, the corresponding seizure and forfeiture proceedings will be conducted against the subject shipments for violating provisions of Republic Act No. 10863 known as the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act.
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