BOC-Clark personnel watch contraband goods before incineration. Contributed photo
ANGELES CITY – Tons of smuggled frozen food including pork, Peking ducks, chicken parts, fish and squid balls seized last month by the Bureau of Customs-Port of Clark were destroyed Wednesday in a waste disposal facility in nearby Porac town.
This, coming in the wake of news reports also on Wednesday that Angeles City Mayor Carmelo “Pogi” Lazatin ordered the “hot” meat seized.
A Customs insider who asked not to be named for lack of authority to speak on the issue said the mayor could have been given a “bum steer” as the meat had already been ordered to be destroyed.
Port of Clark District Collector lawyer Ruby Claudia Alameda earlier ordered the destruction of the food and non-food items temporarily placed under a cold storage and warehouse in Barangay Anunas here seized in a raid on the premises last June 11 by joint operatives of BOC-Clark, the National Bureau of Investigation and the Philippine Coast Guard.
The raid was conducted by virtue of Letter of Authority (LOA) No. 06-10-041-2020 and Mission Order (MO) no. 06-10-2020-086 issued by the BOC commissioner. The LO was served to one Jimgold M. Tan, identified as the representative of the warehouse owner.
An initial inventory of the goods seized recorded 1,149 boxes, each with at least 10 heads of Peking ducks valued at P23 million while the other frozen goods including fish balls, squid balls, vegetables, pork meat, among other food products are estimated to be worth around P2 million.
“The seized items are believed to have been smuggled into the country because of the standing restriction banning importation of poultry products from China due to bird flu virus,” said Alameda at that time.
Ferdinand Montano, veterinarian of the Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Animal Industry DA-BAI, said the importation of poultry products, including Peking ducks, is illegal.
“Talagang bawal ito, hindi tayo nagi-import nito. Besides, there was no health certificate and the government did not issue importation permits for these,” he said, praising the BOC for the timely seizure of the contraband.
National Meat Inspection Service director Orlando Ongsoto, who was present during the transfer of the seized to the Green Leaf Waste Management Facility, said the seized items are not fit for human consumption as they were mixed with banned items while on cold storage.
“All meats inside the cold storage are considered contaminated, due to the fact na magkasama sila sa loob ng cold storage, kaya they are not fit for human consumption, baka ‘yan pa ang pagsimulan ng bird flu virus,” Ongsoto explained.
Green Leaf operations manager Alejandro Patenga said the frozen meats will be disposed using an incinerator with German technology. He said Green Leaf is the only waste disposal facility accredited by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Central Luzon.
