BOC bids out seized Vietnam rice

CEBU, Philippines - The Bureau of Customs-Port of Cebu bid out more than 26,000  of the 500,000 bags of rice from Vietnam that were seized last month.

BOC-Port of Cebu Auction and Cargo Disposal Chief Dante Maranan said they set a floor price of P35,741,060 of the 26,013 bags of rice but this was sold at P40,953,852 or P5,212,792 higher.

The winning bidders were ETB Agro, Dragon Grains, Angel Gabriel Trading and MNPS General Merchandise.

BOC Chief for Operations Danilo Lim and BOC-Port of Cebu District Collector Edward de la Cuesta acted as observers during the bidding.

Maranan added that they are targeting to bid out the remaining smuggled rice within the month.

Last month, BOC seized over 500,000 bags of smuggled rice in 1,069 container vans from Vietnam.

The shipment was forfeited in favor of the government after no import entry was filed by the consignees. — /MBG (FREEMAN)