Ship with smuggled rice ‘vanishes’ at Caraga port

BUTUAN CITY — Caraga the home of numerous religious cults, never runs out of mystery. The latest "mystery" is the "disappearance" of a huge cargo ship with almost 20,000 sacks of rice in front of many people at Lumbocan wharf this city Friday afternoon.

Customs men, the Philippine Coast Guard, the Philippine National Police and even the Philippine Ports Authority officials don’t have any slightest idea how the ship vanished, where it was going and how MV Rudy Yu owned by Cebu City-based Sam Shipping Company escaped.

Responsible government agencies that are supposed to protect government interests for the unpaid taxes from the "hot items" are now starting to pass the blame on why the ship loaded with almost 20,000 sacks of smuggled rice vanished.

Last Thursday evening, operatives of the Butuan City Western Police District headed by Police Chief Inspector Samuel Batoon, acting on a tip from a civilian, intercepted cargo ship MV Rudy Yu, owned by Sam Shipping Company at the Lumbocan Wharf in Barangay Lumbocan, Butuan City.

According to the ship’s crewmembers, the cargo ship came from Manila, then anchored at Cebu Port Tuesday then proceeded to Lumbocan wharf on orders of the shipping company to unload some 17,000 sacks of rice from Taiwan.

The crewmembers admitted the rice cargo was smuggled and not a single cent in tax was paid to the cash-strapped Philippine government.

Some 1,200 sacks were already unloaded from the cargo ship, but like the cargo ship, they are nowhere to be found. National Food Authority (NFA) Manager Antonio Yumang denied to The STAR that it is in possession of the 1,200 sacks of imported rice.