Photos by Ramil Coronel
By Dolores Mose & Elhanan Pamesa
SUBIC BAY FREEPORT – Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Chairman and Administrator Jonathan Tan warned smugglers in this freeport on Tuesday as he inspected P240-million worth of fake brands of T-shirts that were intercepted here recently.
“Itong huli na ito is a good example, makikita natin na we are very, very serious with the help of customs and IPO, SBMA, lahat ginagawa natin para sugpuin ang smuggling,” Tan said.
(This interception recently is a good example, we can see that we are very, very serious with the help of customs and IPO, SBMA, we are doing everything to suppress smuggling)
Tan said the 1,269 boxes packed into two 40-foot container vans arrived from Dhaka, Bangladesh on June 14. Personnel of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) started inspecting the shipment on June 26.
During the inspection, fake designer shirts displaying the brand of Luis Vuitton, Balenciaga, Gucci, Armani exchange, Calvin Klein, Adidas, Nike, Levis, Under Armour and more were found.
Tan spoke to BOC and Port officials after the inspection, giving them instruction to implement changes aimed at stopping smuggling in the freeport.
Port of Subic District Collector Carmelita Talusan who is also present during the inspection said that they continue to collaborate with the SBMA to install reforms to stop the influx of counterfeit goods in the freeport.
Tan, who has been the head of SBMA for two months and a half now also warned smugglers of oil, frozen food and agri products.
He mentioned their first success at anti-smuggling effort with the seizure of 62 containers of undervalued Vietnam rice.
“With the joint effort of Bureau of Customs and SBMA, we’ll make sure talaga na kung hindi man mahuli lahat, at least, makita ng mga smuggler na seryoso ang SBMA, Tan added.
(With the joint effort of Bureau of Customs and SBMA, we’ll make sure that if not all are caught, at least, the smugglers will see that SBMA is serious)
