Customs seizes P18 million worth of smuggled onions

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines continues to deal with agricultural smuggling with P18 million worth of onions, the latest to be foiled by the government.

The Bureau of Customs said it busted smuggled agricultural goods again over the weekend at the Mindanao Container Terminal Port in Misamis Oriental.

The operation was against shipments consisting of six containers declared as soft tortilla wrap, but were eventually found to be red and white onions worth P18 million.

The containers arrived from China and were consigned to Primex Export and Import Producer.

Primex was also the consignee of smuggled onions worth P33 million two weeks ago that the Customs seized.

The Customs emphasized that agricultural smuggling affects locally produced farm products since these cannot compete with illegally imported ones due to pricing.

Amid clamors for donating smuggled goods, the Bureau of Plant Industry maintained that the only option is to destroy the products or return it to its origin, which is costly.

“We don’t know what pest and disease these might bring that would infect our other crops here. This would also pose human risk because we don’t know what preservatives or chemical they used, this is a hazard to our consumers,” BPI said.

The BOC will issue warrants of seizure and detention against both shipments for violation of the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act.

Customs is hoping that this will be a warning to unscrupulous individuals who deprive the government from lawful revenues through their smuggling activities.

Onion smuggling continues to proliferate amid lack of sufficient domestic production. The country’s onion sufficiency has been declining and is only at 72.4 percent as of 2020.