MANILA — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Saturday led the distribution of P178.5 million in seized frozen mackerel to indigent families in Manila.

The shipment was confiscated after being found to not have the required import documents. The mackerel have been tested and have been found to be fit for consumption.

Around 150,000 families from 19 areas in Metro Manila, Central Luzon and Calabarzon each received two kilos of the frozen fish.

“Ini-smuggling nila yung mga agricultural goods. Sinisira ang merkado dito sa Pilipinas, pinagkikitaan ang tao. Wala namang bumabalik sa gobyerno at ‘yung dapat na ibayad sa gobyerno ay ibinubulsa lamang,” Marcos Jr. told beneficiaries in Tondo, Manila.

(They smuggle agricultural goods. This affects the local market and cheats the people. This does not help the government and the fees that should be paid are just pocketed) 

“I hope, this is the first of many operations such as this dahil this is very, very important. At, kailangan nating ma-control, kailangan nating ma-supervise ang ating food supply (We need to control and supervise our food supply),” he said.

In late September, the BOC flagged 21 container vans full of frozen mackerel after its consignee Pacific Sealand Foods Corp. failed to present Sanitary and Phytosanitary Import Clearance (SPSIC) from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR).

The goods were deemed abandoned, and the BFAR conducted several tests to check if the smuggled fish was safe for human consumption.

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This is the “first case under the new law of the Anti-Agricultural Sabotage Act,” Marcos Jr. said referring to a policy signed into law this year.

He said that the smuggled fish was seized through the coordination of government agencies, which he said “were all working together, all the way up to the end.”

Aside from indigent communities, some of the frozen fish will also be distributed to city jails, public hospitals and care facilities.