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The Bureau of Plant Industry and the Bureau of Customs recently confiscated 25 metric tons of undocumented yellow onions worth P3.5 million
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On a 40-foot container, the shipment arrived in July aboard the vessel Green Pacific at the Manila South Harbor
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The shipment had no sanitary and phytosanitary import clearance, which led the issuance of a warrant of seizure and detention for inspection by the BOC
The Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) recently confiscated 25 metric tons of undocumented fresh yellow onions valued at P3.5 million.
On a 40-foot container, the shipment from China by JRA and Pearl Enterprise, Inc. arrived at the Manila South Harbor on July 16, 2024 aboard the vessel Green Pacific.
The joint operation was conducted on October 3.
The contraband arrived during the time Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel, Jr. directed BPI to halt the issuance of onion import permits.
“It’s impossible that this shipment of onions was imported using an SPIC (sanitary and phytosanitary import clearance) because we only issued sanitary and phytosanitary import clearances in late August,” said BPI director Gerard Glen Panganiban in a statement.
After verifying the inward foreign manifest and confirming the absence of SPIC, the BOC issued a warrant of seizure and detention as requested by the BPI-Plant Quarantine Service.
Panganiban said the BPI has intensified inspections of imported agricultural products, following orders from the Agriculture secretary to “enforce our biosecurity measures and keep out these smuggled articles to uphold the interest of our farmers and protect public health.”
Panganiban added: “We remain steadfast in our support [of] the newly signed Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act. We hope that these confiscations will serve as a warning to unscrupulous traders and companies that the DA (Department of Agriculture) and BPI are fully committed to cracking down on these illegal trade practices that endanger not only public health but undermine the livelihood of our farmers.”
READ: Marcos signs Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act into law
