Hog, poultry raisers hit BOC for failure to curb smuggling

Manila, Philippines -  Local hog and poultry raisers have criticized Customs Commissioner Rufino Biazon for refusing to provide the Department of Agriculture (DA) with the inward foreign manifest (IFM) to speed up the inspection of imported frozen meat and stop smuggling of agricultural products.

Rosendo So, Swine Development Council director, said Biazon should honor their agreement to allow hog growers to join the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and National Meat Inspection Service in conducting inspections.

“Everyone is still waiting for him to deliver and make good on his promise to make inspection more transparent to us stakeholders,” he said.

“These IFMs contain a declaration of the importation as well as the country of origin and will be crucial in determining shipments of smuggled meats and other foodstuffs,” he said.

So rejected Biazon’s suggestion for them to send an expert in classifying meat products in the inspection of imported goods.

“He (Biazon) is just making palusot (excuses),” he said. “He knew for a fact that up to now, he has not furnished the DA copies of the IFM, which could save DA inspectors so much time and labor in checking the imported meat complied with the VQC.”

“Without the IFM, it would be foolhardy for the DA inspectors to tag along, and it would be as good as finding a needle in a haystack the reefer vans that contain imported pork and chicken,” he said.

So said at least 1,000 shipping containers enter the country, and that only an average of 30 reefer containers a day contain imported meat, and about 25 contain chicken.

“It would be a waste of time if we inspect the 1,000 shipping containers when we only need to do it on 55 reefer vans,” he said. 

– Edu Punay, Eva Visperas