President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Friday that he doesn’t need to give importers 15 long days to produce clearance documents, saying he wants to speed up the proof of import clearance permit that they lawfully acquired and brought goods to the country.

Marcos noted that cutting around half the number of days given to them is already enough to get away with potential illegal activities, saying that if the importers are doing legal activities, seven days would be enough.

He added that it is possible for them to escape punishment, saying that they have to do everything so the Bureau of Customs can immediately seize the goods.

Under the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act, customs officers can ask for proof of payment of duties and taxes on imported goods that are kept in storage.

As stated in the act, the goods may be confiscated and subjected to forfeiture if the interested party fails to show evidence within 15 days.

Earlier, Marcos distributed the confiscated rice in Zamboanga City to the poor families in Cavite at the event he attended in the province.