Licenses of 14 suspected rice smugglers suspended

MANILA, Philippines - One cooperative is named KapatiranTakusa (literally, brotherhood of the henpecked), and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) is leery.

Since early last year, the BOC has cancelled the accreditation of 14 rice importers – including KapatiranTakusa Multi-Purpose Cooperative – as part of its intensified campaign against all types of smuggling.

The other delisted companies and cooperatives are Conquistar Marketing, Dream the Dream Marketing, Happy Morning Enterprises, Kakampi Multi-Purpose Cooperative, Malipampang Concerned Citizens Multi-Purpose Cooperative, Pinambaran Farmers Producers Cooperative, Samahang Magsasakang Kapampangan at Katagalugan Multi-Purpose Cooperative, Thunder Glutch Marketing, Ugnayang Magbubukid ng San Isidro, Inc., Vita Rose Marketing, Dragon Clash Enterprises, Masagana Import Export and King Casey Trading.

Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon said the 14 were found to have insufficient financial resources to import large volumes of rice.

Accredited importers have rice importation allocation quota from the National Food Authority (NFA).

Biazon said the BOC would also continue to weed out the list of accredited importers of fictitious companies, as part of its Interim Customs Accreditation and Registration (ICARE) program.

“We are on an all-out war against smuggling, particularly on the smuggling of agricultural products to safeguard the interest of our local farmers,” Biazon said.

ICARE chief Rhea Gregorio said the delisting was a result of the review of the financial status of the companies as well as physical inspection of their business addresses, warehouses and operations.

“Some of these companies, based on their submitted records, do not have sufficient capitalization and facilities to import large volumes of rice, while some cooperatives were not actually functional,” Gregorio said.

Gregorio explained that problems arise when importers comply with minimum requirements to get ICARE accreditation as general importers and then seek rice import allocation quota from the NFA.

She said ICARE accreditation is independent of that of NFA’s and that there is no data sharing arrangement between the NFA and BOC.

Last year, several multi-purpose cooperatives – including the 14 delisted by ICARE – were caught attempting to bring in P500-million worth of rice from India, using the imported rice allocation quota issued by the NFA.

The BOC also seized a P200-million illegal rice shipment from Vietnam.

“We have been doing preemptive and proactive measures to curb smuggling, especially on agricultural products, since the early part of my leadership at the BOC,” Biazon said.

The stepped up anti-smuggling drive is part of efforts of the Aquino administration to boost rice production and ultimately make the Philippines a rice exporter. With Evelyn Macairan