Customs seeking 2 new meat shipments

The Bureau of Customs is still trying to determine what became of two shipments of beef that were imported from Ireland late last year despite a government ban on European beef products.

Customs officials also announced that 25,451.16 kilos of frozen boneless beef seized in Cebu City last month would be re-exported to Ireland

The officials denied that the seized beef would be auctioned off. Importer Monterey has supposedly agreed to shoulder the cost of shipping the beef back to Ireland.

Trade and Industry Secretary Manuel Roxas II said it is not the problem of the government if Ireland refuses to take the shipment back.

"The health of Filipinos is non-negotiable. Filipinos cannot be sacrificed for commercial gain," Roxas said during a break in the Philippine Business Outlook conference

The seized shipment was actually the third importation of Irish beef by Monterey Food Corp.

Monterey customs broker Abay-Abay Customs Brokerage Co. claimed the first shipment arrived in Cebu in December but Department of Agriculture (DA) officials claimed that the cargo was not unloaded and immediately sent back to Ireland.

The second shipment, on the other hand, amounted to 25,755.66 kilos of Irish beef which was allegedly sold by Monterey raw while a portion was processed and sold as local sausages known as longganisa.

The beef’s sale in Visayan markets was supposedly admitted by Edson Yu of Monterey Foods Corp. to the Freeman News Service.

Yu admitted that the beef products were imported shortly after the DA issued a ban on beef products from European countries because of the mad cow disease.

Monterey’s admission triggered a scare on beef products and pulled down the local demand for beef even as the National Meat Inspection Commission (NMIC) urged a ban on imported dairy products as well.

NMIC executive director Efren Nuestro made the appeal on Wednesday saying milk products may also pose another concern because there is no way of knowing, at least in this country, whether the sources of these products have been contaminated.

The DA also banned the importation of beef, pork, sheep and goat products from Britain due to an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.

Agriculture Secretary Leonardo Montemayor said the order also empowers Customs officials to seize all shipments of foreign livestock and byproducts that they suspect came from Britain.

Meanwhile, a militant organization of fisherfolk urged President Arroyo to investigate the culpability of former President Joseph Estrada and former Agriculture Secretary Edgardo Angara for the importation of beef products from Ireland.

Rodolfo Sambayon, chairman of the Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipino (Pamalakaya), accused Estrada and Angara of responsibility for the importation of tainted meat and formalin-rich fishery products from other countries.

"The Estrada-Angara tandem should be also held liable for allowing foreign shipments of these disease-ridden imports," Sambajon said.

Angara urges backdoor watch

Meanwhile, Angara urged Customs, Navy and quarantine authorities to tighten the watch on the "southern backdoor" for tainted beef that might slip into the country.

Angara said the route through Zamboanga to North Borneo has long been used by unscrupulous merchants in bringing in illegal cargoes of rice, corn and sugar from other countries.

"Every port should be checked. The porous borders should be given special attention," said Angara, who ordered the ban on beef imports in November when he was still agriculture secretary.

Angara who is now running for a seat in the Senate, said he is now preparing legislative measures that would give the Bureau of Customs enough powers to speed up "seize and destroy" orders on tainted meat products.

He said the present procedure is slow and cumbersome and does not ensure the destruction or re-export of tainted meat products.

Expediting the procedure by vesting the BOC with enough powers is the solution to the problem, he said.

Angara said he took a decisive stand against meat products covered by alert notices from the Paris-based Office des Epizootes, the international body that monitors outbreaks of animal diseases. – With reports from Jose Rodel Clapano, Perseus Echeminada