BOC probes unauthorized withdrawal of 105 containers from Port of Manila

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Port of Manila (POM) district collector Atty. Vener Baquiran (left) with Customs commissioner Isidro Lapeña at the March 22 conference tackling the unauthorized release of 105 containers at the POM.

The Bureau of Customs (BOC) is investigating the unauthorized withdrawal from the Port of Manila (POM) of 105 containers that were subject of alert orders.

In a press conference on March 22, Customs commissioner Isidro Lapeña said the shipments, with a declared value of around P69 million, were released without proper clearances on March 19 in two batches, one involving 34 containers and another 71 containers.

While the duties and taxes of the 105 containers have been paid, they were found to have violated Section 1400 (misdeclaration, misclassification, and undervaluation in goods declaration) of the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act (CMTA), thus placed under alert order by the Office of the Commissioner (OCOM).

As of March 22, Lapeña said 85 containers have been located by BOC agents, 20 of which have been found by BOC’s Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service (CIIS) and Enforcement and Security Service (ESS) in a warehouse owned by Hommes Trading Corp. in Sterling Industrial Park, Libtong, Meycauayan, Bulacan. The warehouse is now guarded by customs police.

Lapeña said he is positive the 20 other boxes will also be found.

Of the 105 containers, 12 were declared to contain ceramic tiles, for which an alert order was issued on March 13. On March 14, six of the 12 containers were examined while the remaining six were supposed to undergo the same procedure on March 19. But records of port operator Asian Terminals Inc. (ATI) showed the six had already been released earlier, at 08:07am on March 17.

Another 22 containers declared to contain ceramic tiles, also subject of alert orders on March 13, were released on March 17. Two of the 22 were seized by BOC before they were able to exit the terminal.

Details of the other 71 containers have not yet been provided by BOC as investigation is still ongoing.

POM district collector Atty. Vener Baquiran said the BOC is still identifying the exact value of the shipments as they may have contained even more misdeclared commodities.

The customs chief said the accreditation of importers involved in bringing in the 105 containers has already been revoked. These importers are Abundancegain Indent Trading Corp., Imperial Foods and Agricultural Products, Megaabundancesteel Indent Trading Corp., Paragon Platinum International, Premiere Oak Lumber and Wood Products, and Spectrum Highlands Marketing Corp.

Also suspended was the accreditation of the shipment’s customs brokers Bernardine Miranda, Mohamad Salman, and Homaidi Sarip Ibrahim. BOC said appropriate charges will be filed if results of the investigation so warrants.

BOC has relieved POM Formal Entry Division (FED) acting chief Antonio Meliton Pascual and assistant chief Evelyn Estur pending results of the investigation. Other POM employees may also be relieved as well.

Pascual and Estur have denied their involvement and claimed the signatures in the memo authorizing shipment release were forged, “noting the apparent inconsistencies in the documents submitted to the ATI”, Lapeña said. Still, he said the claims are subject of an investigation.

Moreover, BOC is investigating possible collusion between ATI personnel and the importers and/or customs personnel.

Lapeña said ATI “has allowed the release of alerted shipments despite the absence of the required documents by the Bureau of Customs”, noting that the proper protocol was not observed.

He noted that before the release of alerted shipments, there must be a memo on the lifting of alert order approved by the OCOM, a memo lifting the alert order by the Office of the District Collector to the FED, and a memo from FED to the port operator, which in this case is ATI.

Lapeña claimed those memos were not issued when the 105 containers were released from POM.

In a statement sent to PortCalls, ATI said it “can only process containers for release from the port after the Bureau of Customs issues the release instruction through the OLRS (Online Release System).”

It added: “Issuance of the OLRS instruction means that all duties and taxes have been paid and that there are no holds or special stops on the container. ATI does not have any control over BOC’s e2m (electronic to mobile) alert system.”

Lapeña, however, claimed this is just an “alibi” of the port operator, as hard copies of memos lifting the alerts should be present before release of alerted shipments. PortCalls is still awaiting ATI’s response to this claim.

BOC Legal Service director Atty. Yasser Ismael Abbas said BOC can recommend revocation of ATI’s accreditation as provided under the CMTA. Port operators fall under the category of third parties which provide service to BOC, which under the CMTA requires to be accredited by the customs bureau.

Truck drivers of the shipments may also be investigated, Lapeña said.

The BOC chief noted the illegal release of shipments may be tied to BOC’s decision on March 13 to assign back customs police at terminal gates; the customs police were ordered removed in November 2017 to simplify customs processes.

READ: Customs chief bars gatekeepers, customs police from terminal gates

Lapeña said the importers likely fast tracked release of their shipments, possibly containing contraband, upon learning that customs police will be back in terminal gates to check cargoes exiting the port.

(The alerted shipments exited the terminal two days before the Customs police were back at the gates on March 19.)

The illegal release also comes after BOC’s March 12 directive that all incoming shipments of tiles be subjected to mandatory magna scale weighing.

Asked what measures BOC would take to prevent similar incidents from happening, Lapeña noted that the customs bureau has already limited the number of customs broker representatives transacting with BOC to prevent unauthorized transactions with BOC personnel. BOC is also now requiring the income tax return for sole proprietorships to prove they have the financial muscle to import. In addition, BOC is requiring from importers a list of importables, or products they will be importing for a particular period of time.

Dy Buco said BOC is set to release a memo reiterating that importers will not be allowed to import products and commodities not included in their list of importables. He noted this is one of BOC’s measures to weed out consignees-for-hire, which are individuals used by smugglers as front to import. – Text and photo by Roumina Pablo