TCC Cement, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Taiwan Cement Corp., is the country’s largest cement importer.
The BOC also ordered TCC Cement Corp. to pay P4.045 million, representing the total amount of discrepancy, and to hold the delivery or release of TCC Cement’s importation until the penalty is paid.
Two officers of TCC Cement Corp. – Randy Simon and Francisco Billones– will be criminally charged with violation of Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines.
They will also be barred from transacting business at BOC.
Based on its findings, the BOC said "there is no doubt that TCC Cement Corp. employed recycled and/or tampered entries, bills of lading, and invoices in their importations."
The BOC continued that "it has also been shown that TCC deliberately delayed in filing its entries, juggling them at its convenience, to make it appear that there is value/price fluctuation when there was none." – Marianne Go