Customs can’t seize ‘hot’ cargo

CEBU CITY — A warrant of seizure and detention cannot be issued against a vessel here which is allegedly carrying an illegal rice shipment.

This, as Customs Commissioner Titus Villanueva earlier had issued a clearance granting the vessel, M/V Morning Princess, entry into Philippine waters.

The Customs Intelligence and Investigation Services-Cebu has recommended the issuance of a warrant of seizure and detention against the vessel and its estimated 20,000 sacks of imported rice.

Customs district collector Juan Tan, however, said the CIIS-Cebu’s recommendation could not be acted upon by Villanueva’s office because this would be tantamount to defying and violating the commissioner’s earlier order.

Tan said Villanueva, in the same clearance, also ordered the bureau’s Intelligence and Enforcement Group (IEG) in Manila to investigate the vessel and its cargo.

So far, the IEG has not conducted any investigation into the alleged illegal cargo of M/V Morning Princess. It is expected to forward its findings to Villanueva and the CIIS-Cebu.

CIIS special agent Franz Muñoz said the vessel, based on their initial investigation, had no proper transit documents, including inward manifest, bill of lading and engine logbook, and that the shipping company failed to show shipping formalities.

These alone, Muñoz said, were enough grounds for a warrant of seizure and detention to be issued.

The rice shipment on board the M/V Morning Princess was said to have originated from the Port of Bangkok in Thailand and was on its way to East Indonesia when it encountered engine trouble in the Balabac Strait between Borneo and Palawan.

The vessel, owned by Triton Shipping Corp., arrived at the Trigon shipyard in Sangat, San Fernando, Cebu last Feb. 3.

Villanueva, in his letter dated Feb. 1, allowed the vessel to enter the Port of Cebu for repairs.

The Customs commissioner specifically instructed Tan that should the vessel be found without damage, a warrant of seizure and detention must be issued.

Meanwhile, former Customs district collector David Odilao Jr. said he will press charges against shipyard owner Glenn de la Torre for detaining him and some reporters for more than two hours.

Odilao went to the shipyard the other day to check the veracity of reports that the M/V Morning Princess was not really in distress when it requested emergency dry-docking.

Odilao now sees himself as a mediaman as he writes a weekly column in Customs Watch and hosts a weekly radio program over Bantay Radyo.

De la Torre said Odilao’s group was only temporarily held while their identities were being verified. — Freeman News Service