300 tons of smuggled vegetables seized in raid

MANILA, Philippines — At least 300 tons of smuggled vegetables were confiscated during a raid on an illegal warehouse in Navotas on Thursday night.

The raid was conducted by a composite team from the Department of Agriculture’s Inspectorate and Enforcement Office and the Bureau of Customs (BOC), DA Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said.

“We cannot allow illegal trade practices such as this to continue hurting the livelihood of our farmers. The order of President Marcos is clear: go after these smugglers without let up,” Tiu Laurel said.

Based on the initial report from the raiding team, one of two cold storage facilities contained 132.75 tons of white onions, valued at P21.2 million.

Another storage facility yielded 89.89 tons of imported carrots with a street value of P13.48 million.

Tiu Laurel said the raid also uncovered 360 kilos of tomatoes, 10 kilos of enoki mushrooms and a 40-footer shipping container loaded with 92.25 tons of imported white onions.

“The help extended by Navotas Mayor John Rey and Rep. Toby (Tiangco) was crucial in ensuring that we do right by our farmers, whose livelihoods are hurt by unfair trade practices, especially smuggling. Aside from harming our farmers, smuggled agricultural goods also put at risk the health of the Filipino consumer,” Tiu Laurel said.

He encouraged the public to report to him or other agriculture officials information on the smuggling of agricultural products to ensure Filipino farmers’ interests are protected.