Smuggled Onions Worth P20-M Intercepted at Misamis Oriental

As the country continues to face onion supply woes, two containers carrying smuggled onions worth P2 million were seized at the Mindanao Container Terminal (MCT) Port in Misamis Oriental last Wednesday, December 21, 2022.

In a statement by the Bureau of Customs (BOC), the containers were intercepted by the joint efforts of BOC Northern Mindanao, Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service (CIIS), Enforcement Security Services (ESS), Department of Agriculture (DA), Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA,) and Chamber of Customs Brokers, Inc. (CCBI).

The seized shipment of onions weighed around 50,000 kilograms. The said containers were declared as bread and pastries from China.

The two containers containing the smuggled onions first arrived in Cagayan de Oro last December 6, 2022.

BOC Commissioner Yogi Filemon Ruiz expressed his empathy for the local consumers who are already suffering from high prices due to the lack of supply of onions in the country.

“Onions are being sold at higher prices in our local markets. This should not have been a predicament for an agricultural country like ours. The more empowered these people feel about smuggling these products, the more our economy will suffer. So, we cannot let that happen because the people will be the most affected,” Ruiz said.

According to BOC, around P1.2 billion of smuggled agricultural goods were seized since January of this year. (ASC)