ILLEGAL. An undated photo shows the confiscated and forfeited partially dehusked mature coconuts contained in 42 container vans found in the Port of Cebu. The estimated value of the shipments bound for China was placed at PHP232 million. (Contributed photo)
MANILA – The confiscated and forfeited partially dehusked mature coconuts contained in 42 container vans bound in the Port of Cebu are now in the possession of the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA).
In a statement on Thursday, the PCA said Central Visayas Acting Regional Manager Brendan Trasmonte signed the turn-over documents of the confiscated goods contained in 42 40-footer container vans from the Cebu District Collection Office in the Port of Cebu.
After the ceremony, the group went to the Cebu Port Authority compound to inspect and turn over the confiscated items.
The shipment was discovered by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) Port of Cebu on Dec. 11, 2021 and was officially turned over on Jan. 12 to the PCA in Central Visayas.
The BOC earlier said the overall export value of the shipments bound for China was placed at PHP232 million.
The confiscated products are banned for export as stated in the policy of an Inter-Agency Committee created by President Ferdinand Marcos-issued Executive Order 1016 which lists products not allowed for export. Mature coconut was included in that list of banned products to protect the country’s genetic materials from being poached by other coconut-growing countries.
In September 2020, former Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol has contested the ban on these products, citing the conflict of interest in the government’s vision to witness the Philippines’ coconut industry take flight. (PNA)
