The Bureau of Customs (BOC) sub-port office in Dumaguete City has intensified its drive against the entry of “ukay-ukay” or used clothing in the city following the recent seizure of bales of relief goods.
Dumaguete Customs Collector Fe Lluelyn G. Toring disclosed over the weekend that her office recently seized two shipments of used clothing from Mindanao.
Last Jan. 15, seized were 160 bundles of “ukay-ukay”, which were transported from Dapitan, Zamboanga City to Dumaguete City and consigned to a certain Mr. Rolando Tam, records at the Customs sub-port office showed.
The shipment was purportedly intended for Iloilo.
Toring said a day earlier, intercepted was a 10-wheeler cargo truck with 110 bundles of “contraband imported used (clothing) consigned to a certain Mr. Norman Ubaldo Maling” at the Dumaguete port.
Philippine Coast Guard and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency personnel were present during the inventory to also inspect the seized goods for possible illegal drugs concealed in the bundles.
All of the bundles of used clothing are now being inventoried and will go through certain processes prior to donation to government agencies, such as the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Toring said.
ILLEGAL.
Last week, the Customs sub-port office in Dumaguete donated more than 140 bales of “ukay-ukay” to the provincial government of Negros Oriental through the Provincial Social Welfare Office.
According to Toring, they have tightened their watch over the entry of shipped used clothing in the city, reiterating that these are illegal because these are relief/donated goods that should not be in the commercial market but should have been given to the DSWD for distribution to calamity victims.*
(Mary Judaline Partlow, PNA via NDB, Photo by DCG)