(Photo courtesy of BOC Public Information and Assistance Division)
MANILA – Executive Secretary Victor Rodriguez on Thursday warned that the government will continue going after unscrupulous traders jacking up prices of food items, particularly sugar, as consumers continue to feel the burden of rising costs of commodities.
Rodriguez made this remark after his office ordered the Bureau of Customs (BOC) to exercise visitorial power to a warehouse suspected of hoarding thousands of sacks of sugar amid consumer complaints about high sugar prices in San Fernando City, Pampanga.
He was acting on the directive from President Ferdinand Bongbong” Marcos Jr. for the BOC to exercise its visitorial powers to all Customs bonded warehouses and to check on the inventory of imported agricultural products with the aim of finding out if there is hoarding of sugar.
“The BoC’s Pampanga sugar warehouse raid may very well serve as a warning to unscrupulous traders who are currently hoarding their stocks of sugar in order to profit from the current artificial sugar shortage situation,” Rodriguez said in a press release.
Operatives of the Clark-based Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service (CIIS) and Enforcement and Security Service (ESS) – Quick Reaction Team raided the Lison Building that houses the New Public Market located in Barangay Del Pilar, San Fernando City.
The BOC agents were assisted by barangay officials and the local unit of the Philippine National Police.
Customs personnel immediately seized suspected hoarded sacks of imported sugar from Thailand neatly stockpiled by the thousands inside the warehouse.
They also seized hundreds of sacks of sugar found loaded inside delivery vans.
BOC agents served a letter of authority and mission order to a Chinese-Filipino warehouse keeper identified as Jimmy Ng.
They also found several imported items such as sacks of corn starch from China, sacks of imported flour, plastic products, oil in plastic barrels, motorcycle parts and wheels of different brands, helmets, LED television sets, and paints.
The CIIS is currently doing an inventory of the said products and gave the warehouse owners 15 days to present necessary documents to prove that the items were legally imported into the country.
The warehouse owners may face charges of smuggling in relation to the provisions of the Customs Modernization Act (CMTA) if proven that the sugar from Thailand was smuggled.
In a Palace press briefing, Cruz-Angeles said the BOC also visited another warehouse in Bulacan.
“Yes, we can confirm that there is another warehouse in the vicinity of Bulacan. We can confirm that there is another one today and possibly more in the coming days,” she said.
Earlier, Rodriguez told Manila Times Columnist Rigoberto Tiglao that his office is investigating reports that certain traders are “aggressively” pushing for the importation of 300,000 metric tons of sugar to use it as a “cover” to release sugar they have hoarded.
Citing reports reaching his office, Rodriguez said massive importation of sugar could result in windfall profits for the traders of at least PHP300 million with a portion of the amount earmarked as lobby money.
Hoarding, profiteering, cartel, and price manipulations are punishable offenses during a national emergency under R.A 11469 or the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act.
Under Republic Act No. 7581 or the 1992 Price Act, protection is provided to consumers by stabilizing the prices of basic necessities and prime commodities and by prescribing measures against undue price increases during emergency situations and similar occasions. (PNA)
