The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) revealed that besides rice imports stuck in ports, there are shipments containing chicken meat, pork and onions that have been staying for over three years in Manila International Container Port and Manila South Harbor (MSH).
In a radio interview on Friday, PPA general manager Atty. Jay Santiago confirmed that several commodities are idle in Manila ports, such as pork meat, dressed chicken and onions.
“There are refrigerated containers with frozen products. Some have been there for more than 1,000 days. We already notified the Department of Agriculture (DA) of the scenario so that they can make arrangements on how they will notify the consignees to pull out the idle shipments,” Santiago said.
He added that the Bureau of Customs (BoC) has cleared the entry of the said shipments, therefore deeming them to be free from foot and mouth disease and avian flu.
“We assume that those products have gone through sanitary inspection from the Bureau of Animal Industry of the DA, and have also gone through phytosanitary and sanitary inspections,” Santiago said.
The PPA chief also said that goods being pulled out by the BoC can either be disposed of after being declared “damaged goods” or donated to the government, particularly to the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
Regarding imported rice, the PPA chief said that overstaying shipments in Manila ports were already cleared by the BoC as of 30 September, allowing consignees to pull out the shipments.
To date, 592 containers can be pulled out anytime.
Santiago said he was unaware why these containers were deliberately stored in ports.
“But only two consignees are involved there. Maybe they are storing it in ports to save money for storage or warehousing costs,” Santiago said.
Earlier, the PPA provided the DA with a list of consignees who have not yet released their rice shipments at Manila South Harbor and Manila International Container Terminal (MICT), along with an inventory of pork, chicken, and onion shipments. This supports the administration’s efforts to ensure food security in the country as the Christmas season approaches.
In a letter dated 1 October 2024, Santiago informed Department of Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel about the rice importation inventory as of 30 September 2024, for both MSH and MICT.
The report includes shipments with BoC clearance and those that have surpassed the 30-day dwell time.
The data reveals a total of 819 TEUs currently at MSH and MICT, with 40 TEUs exceeding 30 days at MICT.
At MSH, a certain rice shipment remains unclaimed despite BoC clearance, with dwell time reaching 287 days.