Press Release
September 22, 2010

CONTAINERS OF SMUGGLED ONIONS UNCOVERED

Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture Senator Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan today helped uncover containers full of smuggled onions valued at P9million at the Port of Manila, South Harbor.

"Smuggled produce strike a serious blow to our farmers' livelihood. When these flood the market, our farmers earn less than they should. According to reports, the government loses P 120 billion in annual revenue due to smuggling. We need to make examples of these smugglers and convict them so that these unscrupulous traders will be discouraged in the future."

Pangilinan is joined by BOC Secretary Lito Alvarez and former DTI undersecretary and current chairman of Alyansa Agrikultura Ernie Ordonez.

"This raid is a product of the partnership between the legislative department, the BOC, and the private sector. We in government will continue to work closely with the private sector and come up with out of the box solutions in finally addressing the needs of our farmers."

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