Says imports from 4 Bulacan warehouses
THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) has issued a warrant for the seizure of 236,571 sacks of rice earlier found in four different warehouses in Bulacan as it continues to intensify its campaign against the hoarding and smuggling of imported rice.
In a news release quoting the BOC’s report to the Office of the President (OP), the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said the BOC is still “waiting for the comments of the government prosecutor as far as the discovery of the sacks of rice is concerned.” It did not elaborate.
The PCO said the seizure order does not cover the sacks of imported rice that were found in two warehouses that were recently raided in Cavite and Las Piñas City, which it said are now the subject of letters of authority (LOA) requiring the owners of the imported rice to submit documents to prove the legality of the importation and proof of payment of correct duties and taxes.
A LOA is issued based on derogatory information that imported goods — which are suspected to be smuggled, regulated, prohibited, or restricted — are being openly offered for sale or kept in a particular store, stall, exhibition place, warehouse and/or storage facility.
The PCO statement did not give specific details on where the sacks of imported rice that were ordered seized were found.
The BOC on August 24 shut down three warehouses in Bulacan allegedly storing smuggled rice worth P505 million in Bulacan. The warehouses were identified as Great Harvest Rice Mill Warehouse, San Pedro Warehouse, and FS Rice Mill Warehouse, which are all located inside the Intercity Industrial Complex in Barangay San Juan in Balagtas.
The warehouses contained an estimated 202,000 sacks of imported rice grains allegedly from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand.
In another raid on August 30, an estimated P519 million worth of imported rice and local palay were discovered in four different warehouses also in two Bulacan towns.
Reports said 154,000 sacks of imported rice and 60,000 sacks of palay were found at the Gold Rush Rice Mill, JJS Rice Mill, Gold Rush Rice Mill 2, and a gray-colored gated warehouse, which are all also located inside the Intercity Industrial Complex in San Juan, Balagtas, Bulacan.
The PCO said the BOC “is now awaiting the submission of necessary documents from the two warehouse owners in Cavite and Las Piñas City.”
Based on BOC inventory, there were 9,906 sacks of imported rice in one warehouse and 5,257 sacks of rice in the other storage.
For the Cavite and Las Piñas raids, the BOC learned that a 25-kilo sack of rice was allegedly being sold at P1,320 in the market or P52.8 per kilo, in violation of the price cap imposed by Malacañang under Executive Order No. 39.
The BOC’s Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service, Enforcement and Security Service, Port of Manila, and Legal Service and the Philippine Coast Guard and barangay officials conducted the raids on September 14 in Pulang Lupa in Las Piñas City, and in Bacoor, Cavite.
The two warehouses, allegedly owned by a single trader, were found to be storing rice products from Vietnam, Thailand and China, with an aggregate value of P40 million.
The PCO said an inventory is still being done in connection with the two warehouses raided in Tondo, Manila.
4 CASES FILED
As this developed, the BOC’s Bureau Action Team Against Smuggling (BATAS) over the weekend announced it has filed four smuggling charges before the Department of Justice (DOJ) against rice smugglers in Bulacan in connection with the warehouse inspection in the province last August 24.
Lawyer William Balayo, the acting Director of BOC’s Legal Service, said in a media forum on Saturday, that they filed three charges of economic sabotage against three importers, while one was for the violation of the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act (CMTA) under Agricultural Product Smuggling last Friday.
Balayo said the fourth case failed to meet the P10 million threshold and was not considered large-scale.
Balayo said a case build-up is also being conducted for the filing of charges against the reported smugglers in Zamboanga City where over 42,000 sacks of smuggled rice were seized by operatives.
The imported sacks of Jamine rice have been donated to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) after the importers failed to present documents to defend the legality of their importation.
The donated sacks of rice were distributed to beneficiaries of DSWD’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) led by President Marcos himself in Tungawan, Zamboanga Sibugay; San Roque, Zamboanga City; General Trias City, Cavite; Iriga City, Camarines Sur; San Andres, Manila; Dapa, Surigao del Norte; and Dinagat Islands.
CONVICTED
The BOC, in a news statement, said the Metropolitan Trial Court – National Judicial Capital Region Branch 24 has found Real Mart proprietor Divina Bisco Aguilar guilty of violating Section 1401 in relation to Sections 102 and 1400 of the CMTA for misdeclaring a shipment of carrots as frozen pastry buns.
The case stemmed from a criminal complaint filed by the BOC on September 10, 2020, with the DOJ.
The case involves a shipment consigned to Real Mart that arrived at the BOC – Port of Manila from Singapore on June 26, 2020. The consignee declared the shipment to contain 2,500 cartons of frozen pastry buns. However, suspicions were raised when a derogatory report was received by the Port of Manila, prompting a physical examination of the shipment.
Upon inspection, it was discovered that the shipment did not contain frozen pastry buns as declared, but instead, it contained misdeclared carrots.
Aguilar was sentenced to a prison term of three years and one day to four years.
In another incident, the BOC said it has also filed two criminal complaints with the DOJ on September 8 and 15, 2023 involving the misdeclaration of various goods from Korea without approved clearance from the Food and Drug Administration and the exportation of a universal CT tester with a falsified General Authorization Certificate, respectively.
