The Bureau of Customs destroyed 20 tons of seized imported goods to decongest storage facilities at the Port of Ninoy Aquino International Airport, the Port of Manila and Manila International Container Port worth millions of pesos.
The destruction of condemned goods was part of the bureau’s scheme to decongest the three major ports to free the yards with overstaying shipments and erase doubts that some of the confiscated goods were being pilfered and recycled.
In a statement, the Auction and Cargo Disposal Division said it destroyed 20 tons of goods in Trece Martires, Cavite.
The abandoned goods underwent condemnation proceedings and were destroyed using the Themal Decomposer (Pyrolysis) Facility of the Integrated Waste Management Inc. and was in coordination with the Food and Drugs Administration Optical Media Board National Telecommunication Commission and Commission on Audit.
Pyrolysis is the thermal decomposition of substance and materials without any trace of molecular oxygen in the destruction chamber.
The shipments were composed of unserviceable computer parts, expired vitamins as well as expired medicines and food products which had no food and drug clearances thus were found to be unfit for human consumption.
“Some arrived contrary to law and cannot be sold through public auction,” BOC-NAIA chief Carmelita Talusan said.
The condemnation is in accordance with the provisions of Section 1145 (Disposition of Goods Injurious to Public Health) and 1148
(Disposition of Regulated Goods) of the Republic Act No. 10863 otherwise known as the Custom Modernization and Tariff Act (CMTA).
Talusan said that the condemnation proceedings are in line with the directive of Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero to clear storage facilities of abandoned and illegally shipped items to better facilitate trade within the Port. With PNA