Busting smuggling ring advances BoC campaign
The Bureau of Customs hailed the recent arrest of an alleged big-time onion smuggling ring and said that the success of the operation is a huge step toward the Philippine government’s campaign against agricultural smuggling.
On Wednesday, the suspect, Jayson de Roxas Taculog, was arrested after he was caught smuggling 30 containers of onions.
“This shows the commitment of the Marcos Jr. administration to go after these big-time agricultural smugglers. Bringing in these goods to the country illegally is a significant threat to our economy, to the livelihoods of small farmers, and to the competitiveness of legitimate businesses,” the BoC said in a statement on Friday.
Deputy Commissioner Juvymax Uy, for his part, underscored the coordination among key government agencies, as well as the prompt actions of the BoC, in Taculog’s arrest.
“This showcased our team’s unwavering commitment to bringing these perpetrators to justice and upholding the integrity of legitimate trade and importation. In many cases, smuggling agricultural, poultry and food products poses a threat to the health and safety of consumers,” he said.
In separate operations at the Manila International Container Port from December 2022 to January 2023, The BoC, the Department of Agriculture, and the Philippine Coast Guard seized P78.9 million worth of illegally imported agricultural goods consigned to Taculog J International Consumer Goods Trading.
“For that alone, we want to make sure here in the BoC that we cover all bases, and we see the finality of these cases,” the official added.
Meanwhile, AGAP Partylist Representative Nick Briones said the suspect should be put in jail immediately and should not be favored with bail, as the worth of the seized contraband is more than P1 million.
“That is economic sabotage. The smuggling of onion is the reason why local onion producers suffered a lot, as their yields are being stocked in cold storage facilities. Traders are not buying their products due to rampant smuggling of onions,” he said.
The Marcos administration stands fully behind the campaign against agricultural smuggling, with President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. certifying Senate Bill 2432 — the proposed Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act — as urgent.
The measure, which would repeal the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016, aims to end acts of smuggling, hoarding, profiteering, and cartel of agricultural and fishery products.
‘This shows the commitment of the Marcos Jr. administration to go after these big-time agricultural smugglers.’