DAMAGED GOODS | Hundreds of bags of onions concealed behind boxes of kimchi, a popular Korean fermented vegetable, are discovered, some already rotting, inside one of the 10 container vans from China. The shipment arrived at the Cebu International Port on Jan. 15, 2023. (Photo from the Bureau of Customs)
CEBU CITY, Cebu, Philippines — The Bureau of Customs (BOC) here has started investigating two consignees who abandoned 10 container vans declared to be a shipment of “kimchi” but found to have been loaded with almost P1 million worth of white onions from China.
Collector Ciriaco Ugay, head of the BOC-Port of Cebu, said he instructed their legal division to conduct a thorough probe against those behind the attempt to smuggle white onions into Cebu.
The consignees have formally abandoned the shipment a month after the container vans arrived at the international port here in January this year but “it’s clear under the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act (CMTA) that even if they have expressly abandoned the shipment, they may still be held liable,” said Ugay in an interview with the state-run Philippine News Agency on Monday.
The Inquirer did not identify the two consignees pending the results of the investigation and their response to the issue.
Rotting
Ugay said nine containers had boxes of kimchi—a traditional Korean fermented and salted vegetables, usually cabbage—in front to conceal the onions, while the remaining container hid the onions behind boxes of egg noodles.
“Many of the onions already have leaves with others already rotting. They are not fit for human consumption because they are rotting already and there is no phytosanitary certificate,” he said.
Ugay said he has ordered the destruction of the white onions from China valued at P998,700.The shipment arrived at the Cebu International Port on Jan. 15 this year and was declared to contain 147 boxes of kimchi said to be worth P183,750.
After about a month, the consignees sent a letter to former BOC-Cebu Collector Elvira Cruz, expressly abandoning the 10 shipment.
A decree of abandonment was immediately issued against the shipment pursuant to Section 1129 (a) of the CMTA in relation to Customs Administrative Order No. 17-2019.
Upon finality of the abandonment proceeding, the Inventory Team of the Auction and Cargo Disposal Division conducted an initial examination and inventory of the subject container vans.
The examination of the first container yielded 3,329 bags of undeclared white onions stacked behind the boxes of kimchi.
Upon completion of the examination and inventory, the smuggled white onions and kimchi would immediately be disposed of in accordance with existing customs rules and regulations, and in close coordination with the Bureau of Plant Industry, the BOC-Cebu said.