Trader, broker face raps for smuggling fowl, piglets

MANILA, Philippines - The Bureau of Customs (BOC) filed smuggling charges yesterday against a trader and a broker at the Department of Justice for allegedly attempting to bring in two 40-footer shipping containers of pigeons, peking duck, chicken and piglets from China.

According to a complaint filed by Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon, Hexa Trading, a Manila-based trading company owned by Miguel Villamor, and broker Remedios Lopez declared the Oct. 15 shipments as frozen mackerel.

However, upon examination by the BOC’s X-Ray Inspection Project headed by Lourdes Mangaoang, the BOC found out that the container vans contained an estimated P40 million worth of pigeons, peking duck, chicken and piglets.

“This is obviously a deliberate move to defraud the government of its appropriate taxes,” Biazon said. – Iris Gonzales, Evelyn Macairan