BOC seizes P33-million smuggled onions in 4 months

MANILA, Philippines - During the last four months, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) conducted six operations and seized a total of P33 million of smuggled onions, an official said Friday.

BOC Commissioner Angelito Alvarez said their operations against the smuggling of onions are part of their campaign to help the farmers fight the illegal entry of agricultural products, many of which were reportedly imported from China.

Alvarez presented 50,000 kilos of smuggled onions with an estimated value of P2.5 million. The agricultural products were placed in three 40-footer reefer containers that entered the country via the Port of Manila (POM).

The items, which were allegedly misdeclared by consignees Interwide Trading and Airfreight Alliance Incorporated as pickles and juice, were imported without an import permit from the Bureau of Plant Industry.

Alvarez said they will destroy the smuggled onions in public.

BOC Deputy Commissioner for Enforcement Horacio Suansing said just last week, they raided stalls and stores in Manila and seized 3,500 bags of smuggled onions with a value of P2 million. Majority of the onions were openly sold at warehouses along Bilbao street.

On Aug. 11, the bureau seized at the POM two containers of Chinese onions worth more than P4 million that the consignee, Biz Trade Corp., reportedly tried to pass off as juice.

Sometime in July, BOC personnel found 4,000 bags of onions with a retail value of P3.5 million being kept at the Marcelo Cold Storage in Navotas.

While in Davao, they discovered onions loaded in eight 40-footer shipping container worth P6.4 million last May. These were reportedly consigned to Red Jaguar Enterprises.

But the biggest bust was last May 26, wherein the BOC confiscated 26,000 bags of onions, worth P16 million, at a cold storage facility in Meycauayan, Bulacan.