Brazil meat cargo leaves Subic as measure vs agri smuggling hailed, pushed

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT—The cargo of frozen meat from Brazil, which was impounded last month, has been shipped out of Subic Bay, an official of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) said on Saturday.

At least 75 containers, loaded with 408,000 kilograms of frozen cattle meat, swine meat and offal, left the Subic Bay International Terminal at 7:30 p.m. on March 24 (Holy Thursday), said lawyer Ernelito Aquino, Subic customs district collector.

“The entire shipment was shipped out of the port of Subic,” Aquino said in a text message.

He said the shipment, which was consigned to registered free port importer Goldlink International (Subic) Inc., was loaded onto the cargo vessel, Bomar Spring, of international shipping firm APL.

The Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) had requested the BOC to hold the containers “indefinitely” when the shipment arrived here in March.

The frozen meat shipment was declared as foreign transshipment cargo from Brazil and bound for Vietnam via the Port of Subic.

The BOC did not find evidence showing that the meat was for distribution illegally to Philippine markets and lifted its hold order.

Asked about the change in the cargo’s intended destination, Aquino said the importer “could have found a buyer in South Korea.”

The BAI had received a tip that the cargo would be transferred to a fishing boat, which would be tantamount to smuggling the cargo into the country.

A measure that sets heavier penalties for smuggling of agricultural products has passed the House but is not likely to become a law before President Aquino steps down.

But some of the biggest state universities in Luzon offering agriculture courses have welcomed the measure’s passage, expressing hope it would become law soon.

Abono party-list Rep. Conrado Estrella III, the principal author of Anti Large-Scale Smuggling Law in the House, said unabated smuggling has stripped farmers of jobs and discouraged students from taking up agriculture courses.

Under the measure, the amount of smuggled agricultural products that would classify smuggling as an act of economic sabotage should be at least P10 million for rice and at least P1 million for other agricultural products.

“Smuggling distorts the forces of supply and demand,” said Estrella in a statement.

In separate letters to Estrella, officials of the Pangasinan State University, Nueva Vizcaya State University and Central Luzon State University said they support the antismuggling measure, expressing gratitude to Abono for steering its passage. Allan Macatuno, Inquirer Central Luzon