00:00The fruits of the more intense surveillance against agricultural smuggling in the country.
00:05Millions of smuggled agri-products and cigarettes
00:08that the government tried to ban.
00:11This is Clazel Fardilia for Report.
00:17Shabu-Shabu's five containers that arrived at Subic International Terminal Corporation
00:25But when the Department of Agriculture and Bureau of Customs opened and inspected,
00:31smuggled carrots and white onions arrived.
00:36From China, 144 tons of cargo arrived.
00:41No certificate of product registration
00:44and no sanitary or phytosanitary permit.
00:47The products were proven to be legitimate and safe to eat.
00:51This is like the last onions last month
00:55that were impacted in a warehouse in Navotas,
00:57which turned out to be positive for the high level of chemicals
01:01and e-coli or bacteria that humans or animals get from the soil.
01:05We were opening the boxes and looking at the quality.
01:08It seems to be the same quality as what we saw in Navotas.
01:12For our safety, food safety,
01:14we are not sure what is the origin of this,
01:17what is the process that it went through.
01:20That is where it is already risky, it is already high risk.
01:24And then second, for the local industry, of course, we do have production.
01:29If this gets into our markets, there will be a little disruption.
01:34Of course, the price may go down
01:37because it will flood our market, the illegal goods.
01:42Aside from vegetables and rice,
01:44there are other products that were approved by the operatives.
01:47Two more container vans were opened by the Department of Agriculture
01:51and the Bureau of Customs.
01:53This shipping container is one of them.
01:55In front of it, there are tissues.
01:57But after being removed one by one,
01:59this is where the smuggled cigarettes boxes were discovered from Taiwan.
02:05Cigarettes are worth P115 million.
02:09That is why more than P130 million were confiscated.
02:15The consignees will be fined and will face several cases.
02:20They are doing smuggling to basically avoid taxes as far as tobacco is concerned.
02:29Onions and carrots can take advantage of the price in the Philippines versus other countries.
02:37The importers will be blacklisted.
02:40And to prevent the fight against agricultural products,
02:44the Congress and the Senate of the D.A. will request
02:47to increase the funds to the Enforcement Bureau of the agency to P200 million
02:53from the current P50 million.
02:56The D.A. will punish the smugglers.
02:58The Bureau of Customs and the Department of Agriculture are on top of the situation.
03:03All of them will be chased.
03:04That is the order of our President.
03:06Kalei Zalpardilia for Pambansang TV in the new Philippines.
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