Market Reach International Resources has welcomed the decision of the Metropolitan trial court of San Pedro to invalidate the search warrant served on its warehouse in Laguna last June.
Market Reach CEO Jiten (Jatin) Lalwani and officers Argel Jarasa, Bernard Bonina and Naresh Kumar said they hope that the ruling would pave the way to clearing the name of the company so that it could continue its operations unabated.
Previously, executives and employees of the trading firm in the City of San Pedro in Laguna had been charged with violations of the Consumer Act of the Philippines and the Food Safety Act for allegedly altering the production and expiration dates of food products.
Market Reach, a leading export company engaged in logistics trading and consolidation, said it is looking forward to moving past this issue so it can pursue its big plans for the year such as ramping up capabilities for further growth in the years to come.
Mr. Lalwani said: “We are pleased with the court decision mostly because we can now focus on our goal of becoming the number one promoter of Filipino products globally. We are excited to not just export local products but also to represent the Philippines in international trade shows and grow our country’s finest offerings abroad, similar to what we have been doing for the past years.”
“Market Reach has been in existence for more than a decade and is one of the pioneers in the export industry. We are proud to be in an enterprise that allows us to create jobs and to help the economy,” Mr. Lalwani said, adding that plans are also underway for
Market Reach to expand into manufacturing and toll packing.
National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Officer-in-Charge Director Eric B. Distor had said the complaints were filed against Lalwani and Kunmar.
Also charged, Distor said, were the firm’s Manager Argel Joseph Jarasa and Production Supervisor Bernard Bonina.
In a statement, the NBI said that “those FDA (Food and Drug Administration) officials and employees in these illegal activities shall be charged before the Office of the Ombudsman.”
The NBI statement, however, did not disclose the names of the FDA officials and employees allegedly involved.
It said the NBI’s Task Force Against Illegal Drugs (NBI-TFAID) conducted an operation against the firm last June 4 and served a search warrant.