Auction of smuggled rice today

CEBU, Philippines - The Bureu of Customs (BOC) in Cebu is set to auction today 174,720 bags of seized smuggled rice worth P223,641,000.

BOC inventory head Arneth Manquiquis said 29 bidders from all over the country have registered to purchase the rice, which is divided into 37 lots. The auction will be held at 9:30 a.m. at the Mariner’s Court at Pier 1.

The 174,720 bags are loaded in 336 container vans with a bid price of P1,280 per bag. There are at least five varieties of the rice.

“Daghan ang ni-register nga mga bidders from Manila, Davao and other places,” said Manquiquis who is also the assistant chief of the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service in Cebu.

Manquiquis said two more auctions will follow after today’s.

BOC - Cebu had two public biddings for 185,253 bags of seized rice on board 362 container vans. The bureau earned P252,702,132 from these auctions.

Those placed on auction were part of the 520,000 bags of smuggled rice from Vietnam the bureau seized last April. With an estimated total value of P950 million to P1 billion, the shipment was dubbed as the “mother of all smuggled rice”. The shipment was declared as stone and wooden slabs.

A total of 371 container vans with an estimated 520 bags per container or 192,920 bags will be auctioned next month.

Dela Cuesta earlier said 272 bags of rice were reportedly pilfered at the container yard of the Cebu International Port. The incident is now subject of an investigation.

Several bags of rice have also been damaged by rainwater that entered the container vans. — (FREEMAN)