Joint elements of the Bulacan’s Provincial Veterinary Office, Santa Maria Municipal Agriculture Office together with Bulacan operatives have confiscated some 4,460 kilos or half a ton of “hot meat” packed in 223 boxes in a check point in Santa Maria town in Bulacan on Wednesday.
P/Col. Chito Bersaluna, Bulacan police director, said joint elements of Bulacan’s Provincial Veterinary Office led by Dr. Voltaire G. Basinang, together with the Municipal Agriculture Office of Sta. Maria and local police arrested 10 persons for trying to transport the frozen meat products on board two public utility vehicles with license plate numbers CLN 658 and CWX 866 in the bypass road of Barangay Sta. Clara. in the said town.
Bersaluna identified the arrested persons as Amado Paguinto, Salvador Juancito, Renato Nicolas, Reynier Dublin, Clarence Dela Calzada, Joshua Magallanes, Christian Panti, Joe Daulong, Ricardo Feliciano and Mario Policarpio Jr.
Basinang said 223 boxes of imported pork jowls from Germany weigh approximately 20 kilograms each and headed to a cold storage facility in Navotas City were confiscated and condemned.
“The suspects were not able to produce proper documents for the products and were considered mishandled because it is not in a refrigerated van,” Basinang added.
The boxes were buried in the municipal materials recovery facility of Sta. Maria with the assistance of the town’s police department and Mayor Yoyoy Pleyto.
The government has earlier banned in the country the importation of meat products coming from countries where there are incidents of African Swine flu affecting its swine industry.
Dr. Basinang and Municipal Agriculture Office of Sta. Maria under chief Dr. Arnel Garcia was tasked for the proper condemnation of the said products and are also in charge of filing legal cases against the shippers who did not have any certificate of meat inspection with them.