Bureau of Customs District Collector Atty. Elvira Cruz has a lot of explaining to do regarding the "irregular disposal" of seven 40-footer containers with smuggled onion that arrived at the Port of Cagayan on 22 July.
The container vans with nearly 200,000 kilos of raw white onions from China could have augmented the supply of onions in the domestic market.
Records showed Cruz herself ordered the seizure of the smuggled onions, which were declared as other food products.
Under the Customs and Tariff Code of the Philippines, the smuggled onions should be condemned for destruction to avoid flooding the local market with an unauthorized and suspected to be unsanitized agricultural product.
Despite solid public clamor to donate the onions to charity, the BoC refused to heed the call, with Customs-CDO spokesperson Cris Angelo Andrade passionately arguing that the onions might be contaminated and may pose a health hazard.
Even the Bureau of Plant Industry-Region 10 office supported the Cruz's decision to destroy the shipment. BPI-Region 10 supervising agriculturist Manuel Barradas pointed out, "We don't know what pest and disease these might bring that would infect our other crops here in Mindanao. This would also pose a human risk because we don't know what preservatives or chemicals they used, which is a hazard to our consumers."
Of course, the onions were not crushed, buried, or incinerated. Instead, six of the container vans were reportedly sold in Davao City on 18 September.
Let's do the numbers.
Customs CDO placed the value of the contraband at P3 million per container, or a total of P21 million for the seven containers.
But the prevailing retail price of white onion is P600 a kilo in the market. With an estimated 28,000 kilos of onions per container, one 40-footer could fetch up to P16.8 million, or P100.8 million for the six containers.
That's a lot of peeling.
But the onion's consignee, identified as Frankie Trading and Primex, had allegedly imported three shipments of questionable agricultural goods in July alone. On 7 July, Frankie Trading imported five containers of white and red onions and carrots with a declared value of P15 million, and another four containers of white and red onions on 19 July valued at P21 million. On 29 July, Frankie Trading imported six more containers of the same shipment with a value of P18 million.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and concurrent Secretary of Agriculture is frowning on agricultural smuggling. Indeed, it is one of his flagship policies to improve the country's farm sector and stop all forms of smuggling.
Perhaps Atty. Cruz and the BPI-Region 10 haven't heard of the President's directive.
