BY: VANESSA BUGTONG
Instead of destroying them, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. chose to distribute approximately 178 million pesos worth of smuggled frozen mackerel seized on December 14.
Through the government’s stringent monitoring of products entering the country, a joint operation by the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Bureau of Customs intercepted 21 container vans from China containing frozen mackerel.
The shipment was seized in October at the Manila International Container Port due to the lack of sanitary and phytosanitary clearance.
Following this, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) conducted laboratory tests to determine if the fish were still safe for consumption.
PBBM stated, “These have been inspected and are safe for human consumption. While they’re still good, let’s distribute them so they won’t go to waste and can be used by our fellow citizens.”
Therefore, instead of discarding the smuggled fish, they were distributed to evacuation centers, hospitals, care facilities, prisons including the Bureau of Corrections, and to approximately 21,000 families in Tondo, Manila.
Each family received two kilograms of fish.
Some were given to the poorest communities in 17 local government units in Metro Manila, as well as in the provinces of Bulacan and Cavite.
An estimated 150,000 families are expected to benefit from the donation.
