500-man raiding team storms Divisoria mall

A team of agents from the Bureau of Customs, National Bureau of Investigation and the Manila Police District raided the popular 168 Mall in Divisoria in Tondo, Manila yesterday, seizing a still undetermined amount of goods suspected of being smuggled from China.

More than 500 government agents, led by Customs chief Napoleon Morales, conducted an "inspection" to check whether goods sold at the mall were compliant with Philippine Customs and tax laws.

Morales said the operation was carried out following instructions by President Arroyo to crack down on suspected smuggled goods being sold at a much cheaper price.

The Philippine Retailers Association earlier filed a complaint with the Department of Trade and Industry because of unfair competition created by 168 Mall, which sells products similar to those at major shopping centers at rock-bottom prices.

The BOC chief said the 168 raid was their biggest operation for this year.

This was echoed by the President in her address before the 2006 annual meeting of the Asia-Pacific Council of American Chambers of Commerce at the Shangri-La Makatiyesterday.

"Today, we are in the process, even as we speak, of conducting the biggest raid against smugglers in the history of the Philippines involving 500 Customs agents," she said.

The BOC said agents conducted a stall-to-stall inspection and asked stall owners to show proof of payment of taxes and duties.

If non could be shown, their merchandise were seized.

"Not paying proper import taxes to the government creates an unfair playing field for our local products," Morales said.

Morales said the Chinese Embassy was informed of the said operation since most stall owners at the said establishment were Chinese nationals.

The Customs chief said he has ordered a thorough checking of all imports coming in from China to determine whether these are valued properly or not.

"I have ordered the thorough inspection of all shipments from China to see if they have the correct value and to see if they have paid correct taxes and duties to the government," Morales said.

The BOC chief said that after an inventory of the seized goods, owners can reclaim them if proof of payment is presented.

Morales said the raid should send a signal that the BOC is determined to run after smugglers, who are considered economic saboteurs.