NBI arrests 10 suspects in ‘palit-manok’ scam
Published February 29, 2024 10:03pm Ten truck drivers and porters were arrested in Bulacan by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) after they were caught swapping live chickens for lower quality poultry. Initial investigation by the NBI said the suspects were conniving with a criminal syndicate involved in the so-called “Palit-Manok” scheme that replaced the […]
Tomas Kauer - News Moderator 
Ten truck drivers and porters were arrested in Bulacan by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) after they were caught swapping live chickens for lower quality poultry.
Initial investigation by the NBI said the suspects were conniving with a criminal syndicate involved in the so-called “Palit-Manok” scheme that replaced the suppliers’ live chickens weighing 1,600 grams with smaller ones that only weighed to as much as 350 grams.
“Ang bilis lang, pinakamatagal na yung 20minutes. Binebenta na sa bagsakan, meron nang naghihintay na mga buyers, doon nila ibinebenta ang mga nakukuha nilang manok,” NBI AOTCD Chief Jerome Bomediano said in John Consulta’s 24 Oras report.
(They sell the chickens quickly, the longest time is 20 minutes. They sell the poultry at the lowest prices and they already have sure buyers.)
“Ang driver at pahinante ang bayad sa kanila ng grupo na kumukuha ng mga manok P20,000 bawat biyahe. Every biyahe raw at least 500 to 1,000 chickens ang pinapalitan nila,” he added.
(The syndicate pays the driver and porter at least P20,000 per trip. The suspects said they replace 500 to 1,000 chickens per transaction.)
Complainant ‘Roel’, who supplies chicken to fast food chains said they began to suspect something was wrong after the portions coming from the plant would no longer pass quality standards based on their weight.
The NBI said the suspects would remove the GPS attached to the delivery trucks and place it on a decoy vehicle in attempts to avoid suspicion.
During the operation that led to the arrest of the 10 suspects along the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX), an NBI vehicle was damaged after the driver truck of it was tailing attempted to escape.
“Kung titingnan natin, parang simpleng pagnanakaw lang ng manok, hindi po, kasi yung next time around, hindi na mag-grow yung grower, outright mawawalan sila ng client sa feeds,” Roel said.
(This may seem like a simple robbery case but this affects the poultry industry. Next time, growers will refuse to grow chickens and shops will lose clients buying chicken feed.)
“The entire ecosystem of the poultry industry is affected. Pang-apat na nalulugi ay yung consumer mismo, kasi inaasahan ng consumer malalaking sizes ng manok mabibili nila, in the end, ang mapupunta sa kanila, yung maliliit na sizes,” he said.
(The entire ecosystem of the poultry industry is affected. Even consumers are affected because they expect to have large portions of what they are paying for but in the end what they get are smaller than they expected.)
One of the arrested truck drivers admitted he and his cohorts have been involved in the modus operandi for a year.
“Nagawa ko lang po yun kasi may sakit po ang nanay ko, pero pinagsisihan ko po. Sana mabigyan pa kami ng pagkakataong magbago,” he said.
(I only did that because my mother was sick. I hope we can be forgiven and given a chance to change.)
The NBI said it will conduct follow-up operations against the syndicate, which they said has been operating in several provinces around the country.—Sundy Locus/RF, GMA Integrated News
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