Buried smuggled chicken dug up, sold in public markets?

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT — Some of the 25,000 kilos of smuggled frozen chicken leg quarters which were buried at the landfill here last Saturday were reportedly dug up by still unknown persons and have reached wet markets in the cities of Olongapo, San Fernando, and Angeles.

In a letter sent to Benjamin Angeles, chairman of the anti-smuggling task force of the Department of Agriculture (DA) yesterday. Central Luzon veterinary quarantine officer Dr. Renato Alonzo said that two days after the products were buried, Olongapo City health officer Dr. Pacita Alcantara called up Dr. Ruben Diaz, veterinary quarantine officer based here, to report the confiscation of "chicken leg quarters with bad odor being sold at the Olongapo city public market."

The chicken leg quarters arrived here frozen in a container van without the required veterinary quarantine certificate (VQC) last year and were buried at the landfill last week, together with pork skin and were mixed with "soda ash" to hasten their decomposition.

Dr. Romeo Manalili, chief of the DA’s regional quarantine section, wrote city health officials in Olongapo last Tuesday that they witnessed the disposal of the meat products.

Alonzo said that upon hearing of reports, he immediately told quarantine officials to check on the site where the meat products were buried

Alonzo said Diaz later reported that the site seemed undisturbed, but he said the diggings could have been later covered again "to prevent further pilferage."

The chicken and skin pork imports had triggered a dispute between officials of the DA and the Bureau of Customs (BoC) regarding its disposal.

An official of the DA said that his office has asked the BoC to unplug the container vans from power outlets for 15 days and then have it burned and turned into fertilizer, but BoC officials at Subic kept them frozen until last week.

In a statement yesterday, the Agricultural Sector Alliance of the Philippines (ASAP) said that "it is bad enough that the government is failing miserably in putting a stop to the rampant smuggling of meat and meat products" but "it is even worse that government agencies cannot agree on the disposition of the smuggled items."

The group said that "the period of indecision could have given unscrupulous persons or entities the opportunity to channel the contraband to the wet markets using the backdoor."