Onion, cigarette importers face raps

THE Bureau of Customs ( BoC) filed criminal charges against several importers and brokers who declared apples as onions.

Also charged at the Department of Justice were several individuals allegedly involved in the illegal importation of cigarettes.

Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapeña, through the BoC’s legal department, charged the importers and brokers of the onions for violation of Sections 1400 and 1401 of Republic Act 10863.

They were identified as Joseph Mar tin Arriesgado, sole proprietor of EAJM Enterprises, Manilou Hernandez, sole proprietor of Buensuceso Enterprise, and Ar vin Tugadi, sole proprietor of Epitome International Trading, and customs broker Lorenz Mangaliman.

The cases stemmed from the joint spot checking of six 40- footer reefer containers at the Manila International Container Por t by Lapeña and Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol declared to be containing fresh apples but were filled with fresh onions instead.

Importation of onions is illegal in the absence of an import permit from the Department of Agriculture. The shipment was worth P11.109 million.

The BoC also filed a criminal complaint against the owner of Marid Industrial Marketing -- Mark David Villanueva -- and its customs broker Carme Ann Rollon, for the unlawful importation of P26.650 million worth of cigarettes, originally declared as industrial artificial fur texture.