MANILA – The Bureau of Customs (BOC)-Davao has intercepted six boxes containing agarwood weighing over 70 kilograms worth PHP62 million.
BOC-Davao District Collector Erastus Sandino Austria, in a statement Monday, said the packages were initially declared to contain “woodcrafts” bound to Vietnam via Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) and were stopped on Christmas Eve.
The misdeclaration was discovered after the boxes undergone X-ray scanning and physical inspection, as it yielded 73 kilograms of agarwood chips that are supposed to be illegally exported from the country without the necessary permits from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
The seized packages shall now be subjected to seizure and forfeiture proceedings for violation of Section 117 (Regulated Shipments), Section 1400 (Misdeclaration) and Section 1113 (Property Subject to Seizure and Forfeiture), all of Republic Act 10863 (Customs Modernization and Tariff Act) in relation to Section 27 (i) [Illegal Transport] of Republic Act 9147 (Wild Life Act).
The packages will be turned over to the DENR.
The BOC added that this type of wood is included in the National List of Threatened Philippine Plants per DENR Administrative Order No. 2007-01.
The strengthened coordination between the BOC-Port of Davao, Davao International Airport (DIA), in close coordination with BOC–NAIA the PNP Aviation Security Group, and DENR-11, has prevented the potential illegal exportation of agarwood.
Austria said they will continue to monitor these types of shipments through coordination with the BOC-NAIA, led by District Collector Carmelita Talusan, and the port’s partner enforcement agencies to ensure that the country’s borders are efficiently protected from potential illegal exports, in line with the directives of Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero.
Early this month, the BOC reported the interception of 28 kilos of agarwood in Pasay City.
The BOC-Port of NAIA, in coordination with its Environment Protection Compliance Division (EPCD), intercepted the three packages in a FedEx warehouse on Dec. 2.
Documents showed that the packages were misdeclared as “face masks and clothes, shoes and handbags, and leather jackets, face masks, and man pants”. All three packages were shipped by a resident from Davao to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
According to the DENR, agarwood is a resin valued for its distinctive fragrance. It is formed when the host tree becomes infected with a mold called Phialophoraparasitica.
The mold infection makes the tree produce a dark aromatic resin called aloes or aga in its heartwood. The fragrant resin is used to make incense, perfume, and medicinal products particularly in the Middle East and Asia.
The agency added that the selling of agarwood or lapnisan is illegal in the Philippines. It is found only in the heart of the jungles in Mindanao and Visayas.
Agarwood is one of the rarest and expensive trees in the world, with a kilo of it being sold for as much as PHP750,000. (PNA)
