BOC seizes P28-M goods at Manila ports

MANILA, Philippines –  Two major district offices of the Bureau of Customs announced yesterday they had seized at least P28 million worth of misdeclared items.

BOC-Manila International Container Port (MICP) district collector Ricardo Belmonte opened yesterday five 20-foot shipping containers of refined sugar allegedly smuggled into the country from Thailand.

He said the 2,400 bags of sugar, misdeclared as 2,000 bags of sorghum, arrived at the port Nov. 15.

“Even at that time we were suspicious as to why would someone ship in five container vans filled with sorghum, which may be used as animal feed. We waited for a month but no one came to claim the shipment so we declared it as an abandoned shipment… This is a big case for us,” Belmonte said.

The sugar, marked Thai Roong Rwang Sugar Group, was reportedly consigned to Extreme Five Trading Corp. “We have yet to conduct further investigation if the consignee had any derogatory record,” Belmonte said.

He said he would have wanted to subject the shipment to a public bidding, but the Sugar Regulatory Administration “wanted the public bidding to be held in abeyance because of the bumper crop. It might affect the earnings of the local farmers.”

He said he does not know how long the bidding can be put on hold, “but we have to consider that these are perishable goods. Once it becomes moist its market price would deteriorate.”

Earlier yesterday, BOC commissioner Angelito Alvarez and deputy commissioner for enforcement group Horacio Suansing reported that two firms allegedly smuggled into the BOC-Port of Manila (POM) 2,400 pairs of Geox shoes and used clothing with an estimated value of P20 million.

Suansing said consignee Thompson Hardware and Lighting Center declared the shoes as unbranded – worth only P94 a pair – and paid only P71,365 in duties and taxes. However, he later learned that a pair of Geox shoes can be sold for P5,000.

Alvarez said that for trying to save P2 million in taxes, Thompson Hardware “now stands to lose its entire shipment with an aggregate retail value of at least P12 million.”

He added that another firm, IRM Trading, allegedly misdeclared used clothes worth P8 million as just fabrics. He said the importation of used clothes, which will be sold to the public, is prohibited under Republic Act 4653.

They are considering auctioning off the shoes and sending the used clothing to the Department of Social Welfare and Development for distribution to victims of disasters and calamities.