PORAC, Pampanga – The Bureau of Customs Port of Subic has disposed of P362 million worth of smuggled vegetables at the Greenleaf 88 waste disposal facility here today, Oct. 25.
Maritess Martin, Port of Subic collector, said 60 40-footer container vans of vegetables were destroyed. She said the goods which entered the port from China were declared as frozen jams, frozen breads and yellow onions but turned out to be onions, carrots and broccoli upon inspection.
She said the smuggled vegetables were consigned to Zhenpin Consumer Goods, Duar Te Mira Non-Specialized Wholesale, Ginagmon Agri Trading, and Thousand Sunny Enterprise.
“The port immediately seized and forfeited the said shipments for violation of Section 1113 in relation to Section 1400 in violation of Republic Act 10863, the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act, and the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) Circular no. 4, series of 2016.
The destruction of the smuggled goods was done in the presence of DA Asst. Secretaries Federico Laciste Jr. and Liza Battad, Department of Trade and Industry Asst. Sec. Ronnel Abrenica, and representatives of other agencies.
Greenleaf88 is the government-accredited non-toxic waste disposal facility in Central Luzon.
It was learned that the destroyed goods were the largest forfeiture of agricultural products in the Port of Subic.
Martin said the detection and seizure of the unsafe goods was done through the efforts of the BOC, DA, DTI, Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, and the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency.
Greenleaf88 proprietor Robert Gaza said the facility is capable of incinerating and condemning huge volumes of non-toxic goods.
