Govt Starts Raiding Warehouses of Sugar Hoarders

The government began raiding customs bonded warehouses (CBWs) that the Bureau of Customs (BOC) suspected of hoarding sugar. This comes amid high prices of sugar and an ongoing inventory of stocks.

A CBW “is a warehouse facility duly authorized to receive and store general cargoes for exportation, transfer to another CBW, free zones or for local consumption, in the same state when the cargoes were imported.”

The BOC reported that its operatives raided warehouses in Bulacan and Pampanga where a total combined number of 44,000 sacks or ₱220 million worth of sacks of imported sugar were seized.

Executive Secretary Victor D. Rodriguez has stated that the raiding started per order of the President and sitting Department of Agriculture Secretary Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.

Executive Secretary Rodriguez has also mentioned that other CBWs will be visited by BOC personnel to inspect the inventory of imported agricultural products to see if there is a hoarding of sugar.

According to the BOC, its personnel from their Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service (CIIS), the Security Service of the Port of Clark (Customs District XIV), Port of Manila (Customs District II-A),  Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service (CIIS), and military went to New San Fernando Public Market located in San Fernando, Pampanga, as well as beside Taruwe’s Lugawan located in Jose del Monte, Bulacan.

“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,”  said Rodriguez.

Source: Business Mirror