NAIA-Quarantine torches 2 tons of rotting cherries

Some two tons of rotting cherries from Chile were torched yesterday by the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Plant Quarantine Service (NAIA-PQS) following their seizure by the Bureau of Customs-NAIA last December due to its irregular importation into the country.

Ricardo Belmonte, BOC-NAIA District Collector, said the 2,644 kilograms of fresh cherries, which had been claimed by importer Green River Trading, were seized last Dec, 23 after it arrived on Philippine Airlines Flight PR 113.

The reason for the issuance of a warrant of seizure and detention against the shipment of then fresh fruits was the finding of numerous violations of the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines and a Philippines-Chile memorandum of agreement on the exportation and importation of fruits.

It was learned that an inspection of the shipment’s importation documents showed that the 512 cartons of cherries had been stored for some time in the US before being shipped into the country

Officals said this was a violation of the agreement of the Philippines with Chile on the importation of fruits, which entails that all shipments should go directly from point to point.

The importation documents also indicated that the cherries were bound for Taiwan and not the Philippines.

Alberto Ramos, NAIA-PQS chief, supervised the burning of the cherries in the Nayong Pilipino quarantine compound beside the NAIA complex in Pasay City yesterday morning.