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The Bureau of Customs-Port of Batangas seized a vessel loaded with refined sugar worth P261 million
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MV SUNWARD carried 4,000 metric tons of white refined sugar from Thailand packed in 80,000 bags
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The vessel arrived without a Notice of Arrival and had no import permit
A vessel loaded with refined sugar worth P261 million was seized by the Bureau of Customs (BOC)-Port of Batangas on January 14.
In a statement, the BOC said “MV SUNWARD” carried 4,000 metric tons of white refined sugar from Thailand packed in 80,000 bags.
The vessel arrived in the Philippine contiguous zone without a Notice of Arrival as prescribed by customs laws. In addition, it had no import permit, based on information provided by the Sugar Regulatory Board.
Batangas district collector Ma. Rhea M. Gregorio immediately issued a Warrant of Seizure and Detention in violation of Section 117 and Section 1113 (k), (f), and (l) of the CMTA in relation to Department of Agriculture-Sugar Regulatory Authority and Bureau of Plant Industry rules and regulations and Republic Act 10845, also known as the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016 and Food Safety Act of 2013.
The BOC said Batangas is an “ISO-certified port with a full-proof system that safeguards its area of responsibility against attempts to smuggle prohibited and regulated goods into the country.”
It added: “in the past several months, the port has tightened its control measures and strengthened coordination with other government agencies after receiving information on apprehensions made by the Bureau in other collection districts.”
BOC said the emerging pattern shows concerted efforts to smuggle agricultural products across the country.
Earlier, the BOC also seized P23.847 million worth of smuggled refined sugar from Hong Kong at the Manila International Container Port.
The seizures of smuggled agricultural products come amid President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr’s call last week for a reform in the bureaucracy to curb smuggling, lower logistics costs and ensure ease of doing business.
According to a statement issued by the Presidential Communications Office, Marcos in a meeting with the Private Sector Advisory Council in Malacañang, said: “To be brutally frank about it, we have a system but they are not working. The smuggling here in this country is absolutely rampant. So it does not matter to me how many systems we have in place, they do not work.”
