The Bureau of Customs (BOC) has filed smuggling-related charges against key officials of two import firms and their licensed customs brokers for the illegal importation of steel coils and counterfeit footwear worth over P120 million.
The agency on June 23 filed complaints against Jose Alingasa, Jr., owner and proprietor of Titan Movers Enterprises based in Binondo, Manila, and customs broker Mon Carlo Inciong for violating the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines (TCCP), Republic Act (RA) 4109 (Bureau of Product Standards Law), and Article 172 of the Revised Penal Code of the Philippines.
The case stemmed from the importation of three 20-foot container vans declared by the firm as “steel coils” imported from Australia last February 2014. The shipment was placed under an alert order based on derogatory information.
Further examination revealed that two of the containers had “Bluescope Steel with Galvalume markings” while the other container had “Bluescope Steel with Zincalume markings.”
Bluescope Steel is a publicly-listed steel producer based in Australia while Galvalume is a specialized type of galvanized steel made using flat-rolled steel sheets coated with aluminum-zinc alloy by a continuous hot-dip process.
“Titan obviously misdeclared, misdescribed and misclassified its importation of specialized steel products to avoid paying the correct duties and taxes,” Customs commissioner John Phillip Sevilla said in a statement.
“Futhermore, Titan did not obtain the required Import Commodity Clearance (ICC) certificate for its importation. Even if the firm imported specific types of steel products, it does not exclude them from complying with the law to get your product tested and certified first,” Sevilla added.
Titan was one of the 70 firms suspended by the BOC last March for failure to comply with rules and procedures on filing import documents.
Furthermore, Titan is not a registered Philippine Standard license holder for any products covered by mandatory certification.
BOC also filed a complaint against Ma. Rosalia Quiambao, owner, proprietor and general manager of Fort-Jhorel International Trading, based in Binondo, Manila, and the firm’s customs broker Henry Villa, for violating the TCCP, Republic Act 8293 (Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines) and the Revised Penal Code.
The charges stem from the firm’s importation of three 40-foot container vans with footwear bearing fake brands from Nike, Havaianas, Abercrombie, Hush Puppies, Sandugo, Nathaniel, Sanuk, Disney and Happy Feet. The shipment was declared as packages containing eye glasses, paper box, stationery pads, Happy Feet rubber shoes, men’s and ladies’ leather shoes and slippers.
