Inspected warehouse yields P1.8 billion worth of imported sugar, goods

Amid the government's intensified efforts to find storage facilities alleged to be hoarding sugar, some P1.8-billion worth of local and imported sugar and imported goods were found during an inspection of a warehouse in Nasugbu, Batangas recently.

The team, composed of the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service of the Manila International Container Port, intelligence units of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and the Philippine National Police-Crime Investigation and Detection Group, inspected the warehouse based on a Letter of Authority and Mission Order.

The team served the LOA and MO to the owners/representatives/occupants, or "whoever are in possession" of the goods stored in the warehouse, of Central Asucarera Don Pedro in Barangay Lumbangan, Nasugbu, Batangas. The team worked with the local police in Nasugbu and the barangay personnel in Barangay Lumbangan in serving the inspection papers.

The team found an estimated 181,299 sacks (at 50 kilos per sack) of imported MITR PHOL brand pure refined sugar from Thailand, as well as some 197,590 sacks of the local Don Pedro white sugar.

The inventory of the imported goods and sugar found in the warehouse will be led by the assigned Customs examiners and will be witnessed by the CIIS, Enforcement and Security Service, and representatives of the warehouse. In the meantime, the team has temporarily placed padlocks, seals, and caution tapes on the entrances and exits of the warehouse.

"We consider this a huge breakthrough in our ongoing campaign against sugar hoarding. This may be one of our biggest operations to date since we started inspecting sugar storage facilities," said Customs Commissioner Yogi Filemon Ruiz.

The inspection of warehouses believed to be storing sugar was the product of the controversy created by the issuance of Sugar Order No. 4 by the Sugar Regulatory Administration, which was rejected by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.