The Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) seized a 40-foot container van filled with fresh yellow onions valued at about P3.5 million.
BPI director Gerard Glen Panganiban said the agency continues to be a proactive agency, monitoring inconsistencies in importation that could potentially harm the industry and farmers.
“It’s impossible that this shipment of onions was imported using an SPIC because we only issued sanitary and phytosanitary import clearances in late August,” he said.
Based on the BPI report, a certain JRA and Pearl Enterprise Inc. imported the produce from China.
The container van arrived at the Port of Manila in July 2024 when Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. ordered BPI to suspend the issuance of permits for onion imports.
Panganiban said BPI intensified inspections of imported agricultural products to enforce biosecurity measures and protect the interests of Filipino farmers and public health.
“We hope that these confiscations will serve as a warning to unscrupulous traders and companies that the DA and BPI are fully committed to cracking down on these illegal trade practices that endanger not only public health but undermine the livelihood of our farmers,” he said, emphasizing the BPI’s support to the newly-signed Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act.
