INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines– The Bureau of Customs (BOC) will sell illegally imported rice and expects to collect P159.86 million through a public auction.
In a statement released Monday, the BOC said that the sale of approximately 16,000 bags of glutinous rice and 85,500 bags of white rice placed in 245 20-foot container vans would help decongest the Port of Manila.
The proceeds of the sale will be held in trust by the Bureau of Customs as cases concerning the seized rice are still being heard in court.
According to BOC, 337 container vans of rice with about 4,000 metric tons of rice have been seized and put on hold at the Port of Manila since October 2013 because it lacked the required permits for import issued by the National Food Authority.
The Bureau of Customs was also allowed by the World Trade Organization Committee on Trade and Goods to “extend its special treatment for rice through the imposition of quantitative restrictions until 2017.”
“We have been very clear on our policy that importing rice without the required NFA permit is illegal. Now more than ever, we stand on even more solid ground given that the WTO decision has basically rendered the main argument of these rice traders moot and academic,” said Customs Commissioner John P. Sevilla.
The BOC conducted a public auction of 163,775 sacks of rice stored in 315 container vans at the Manila International Container Port last Thursday, which raked in P393.13 million in sales.
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