Nearly three months after signing Republic Act 12022, or the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. announced that the law made its first catch which were literally big fish or mackerel worth an estimated P178.5 million that smugglers attempted to slip into the country.
On Saturday, Marcos went to the Manila port in Tondo, Manila to inspect 21 container vans loaded with frozen mackerel.
“This is the whole so-called chain that we need to break. And this, as I said, is the first case under the new law of the Anti-Agricultural Sabotage Act. So, I’ve spoken to our Bureau of Customs and I’ve spoken to the Department of Agriculture and we have to keep going. We need to strengthen this further,” he stressed.
The Chief Executive directed the Bureau of Customs (BoC) and the Department of Agriculture (DA) to intensify the implementation of the new anti-smuggling measure.
Marcos wants firmer action against smugglers of farm goods who, he said, disrupt the supply chain. He acknowledged that smuggling affects the prices of agricultural products in the local market.
“I hope this is the first of many operations because this is very important. And we need to control, we need to supervise, our food supply,” he added.
The shipment of fish, in high demand particularly by first-class restaurants, was intercepted by the BoC in September. The cargo originated in China.
The BoC said the shipment entered the country without a sanitary and phytosanitary import clearance (SPIC) from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR). As a result, the container vans were deemed abandoned and forfeited in favor of the government.
Officials said the shipment, consigned to Pacific Sealand Foods Corp., violated DA Memorandum Order 14, s. 2024, which suspends the issuance of sanitary and phytosanitary import clearances for the importation of round scad, mackerel and bonito.
The BoC has seized P5.87 billion worth of smuggled agricultural products from July 2022 to November 2024. The agency filed 250 cases on unfair trade involving agricultural goods worth P8.59 billion from 2018 to 2024.
The BoC recorded four convictions involving the illicit importation of agricultural products.
Typhoon victims to benefit
Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. has asked the BoC to turn over the frozen fish to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) for distribution to typhoon victims.
The DSWD will distribute the fish to over 150,000 families residing in marginalized areas in 17 localities in Metro Manila and one each in Regions 3 and 4-A.
Two kilos of fish
Meanwhile, after inspecting the container vans, Marcos went to the nearby Baseco port where he led the distribution of the confiscated fish to Manila residents. Each family received two kilos of mackerel.
“Our Christmas gift is different. Instead of ham and roasted pig, we brought you fish,” Marcos told the residents.
Marcos thanked the Manila residents who came for the distribution of the confiscated fish.
“I’m glad you’re all here, so you can eat the fish so it does not go to waste,” he said.
The quick turnover of the mackerel for distribution to the Tondo residents was made possible through a memorandum of understanding between the DA and the DSWD.
More coming
In a separate interview, the BoC said that similar shipments are undergoing legal processes, and if deemed safe to eat, they could also be turned over to the DA for distribution.
“Commissioner Bienvenido Rubio has ordered the processing of similar shipments and if it can be done like we did, if it could be distributed to our countrymen, we will donate it again,” Customs assistant commissioner and spokesperson Vincent Philip Maronilla said.
He assured the DA that the BoC is prepared to help the agriculture department as well as other agencies in anti-smuggling operations.