More sugar warehouses inspected
THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) has relieved six officials at the Port of Subic pending results of an investigation into alleged smuggling of sugar from Thailand, Malacañang said yesterday.
An order issued on August 22 and signed by acting Customs Commissioner Yogi Filemon Ruiz said the relieved officials are “temporarily transferred to the Office of the Commissioner.”
The order identified the six as Maritess Theodossis Martin, district collector; Maita Sering Acevedo, deputy collector for assessment; Giovanni Ferdinand Aguillon Leynes, deputy collector for operations; Belinda Fernando Lim, chief of assessment division; Vincent Mark Solamin Malasmas, Enforcement Security Service (ESS) commander; and Justice Roman Silvoza Geli, CIIS supervisor.
Office Order OCOM-0001-2022 said their relief “shall take effect immediately and shall last until sooner revoked.”
Ruiz, in a statement released yesterday, said the “recall of officials from the Bureau of Customs-Port of Subic is standard procedure while an investigation is being conducted.”
He also said he will no longer comment until after the investigation results are completed. “We do not grant interviews as of this time while the investigation is ongoing. Please allow us to do our investigation properly, sincerely, and in silence.”
Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles, in a briefing in Malacañang, said due process will be observed and if there is “sufficient evidence” and a “reasonable amount of evidence found,” the officials would be subject to administrative proceedings.
“Ang pinakamatinding penalties sa admin case ay dismissal from office, pero without prejudice to criminal charges (The most severe penalties in an administrative case is dismissal from office, but without prejudice to criminal charges,” she said.
In a statement, Angeles said “heads may roll at the BOC if evidence shows that any of the bureau’s port personnel are in connivance with smugglers using recycled sugar import permits.”
The office order was issued after the BOC, on August 18, foiled an attempt to smuggle some 140,000 bags of sugar from Thailand, or about 7,021 metric tons, at the Port of Subic.
The sugar shipment, which a total tax payment value of about P45.62 million, was found in the cargo vessel MV Bangpakaew. It was covered by a “recycled permit,” or an import permit that has been used for an old sugar allocation.
The recycled permit was a “special permit to discharge (SPD) and verified single administrative document (SAD)” from the BOC while the verified clearance was from a “Mr. Rondell Manjarres” of the Sugar Regulatory Administration.
The consignee of the smuggled sugar was identified as Oro-Agritrade Inc. under the account of ARC Refreshments Corp. under Entry Nos. C-12513 and C-12521 while the Thai exporter was listed as Ruamkamlarp Export Co. Ltd. The local customs broker was identified as Malou Leynes Buerano.
LATEST HAUL
Teams from the BOC and the Sugar Regulatory Administration have been inspecting warehouses since last week as part of government’s “visitorial powers.” The inspections were being done on warehouses suspected to be keeping smuggled or hoarded sugar. Visited so far were warehouses in Deparo, Caloocan City; Balut in Tondo and San Nicolas in Manila; Rosales, Pangasinan; San Fernando, Pampanga; Ibaan, Batangas, and Davao.
The Office of the Press Secretary (OPS), in a press release, said the BOC seized 466,142 sacks of sugar in a warehouse in Cagayan de Oro, including 264,000 sacks that have been sold to traders but have have yet to be taken from the warehouse.
The OPS did not say when the visit was conducted. The Philippine News Agency said the it was on Tuesday.
The OPS said a Customs team swooped down on several warehouses of the Crystal Sugar Milling Inc. located at North Poblacion in Cagayan de Oro following intelligence reports that the owners are engaged in sugar hoarding.
The BOC, assisted by a representative from the SRA and members of Armed Forces and the PNP from Maramag town, discovered 466,142 sacks of raw sugar in three warehouses of Crystal Sugar Milling, including the 264,000 sacks that were already sold to traders.
The OPS said the warehouse manager, identified as Javier Sagarbarria, said Crystal Sugar Milling produces two million bags of sugar a year. He, however, could not produce a corresponding sugar transaction document and claimed that “the one holding or safekeeping the documents was not around.”
President Marcos Jr. recently stopped a move to import 300,000 metric tons of sugar, saying there is enough supply to last until October this year. A possible importation of 150,000 metric tons, however, is considered for later this year.
Malacañang has branded as “illegal” Sugar order NO. 4 that authorized the importation without the approval of the President. Several officials have resigned over the order. Marcos’ move also led to the warehouse inspections.
‘NOTORIOUS’
Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri said the SRA under recently resigned administrator Hermenegildo Serafica has become “notorious” as Serafica is known to defy lawful orders from higher-ups.
Zubiri said the SRA still went on with the importation of sugar under Sugar Order No. 3 despite the issuance of two temporary restraining orders (TROs) against it. SO3 allowed the importation of 200,000 MT of sugar, which was opposed by producers amid their harvesting and milling season.
“He (Serafica) is doing it. They bypassed the TRO and proceeded with the importation. Notorious ang SRA. You can’t blame us for pointing our fingers at Serafica. Notorious ang SRA administration at that time,” Zubiri said.
Zubiri said it is also a known fact that Serafica favored importing sugar over protecting local producers.
He said Serafica also kept secret the drafting of Sugar Order No. 4 which Zubiri said will be surely opposed by the stakeholders. He said it was also Serafica who was behind the importation of sugar during the milling season.
“Pakana yan ni Serafica. Medyo notorious na ang SRA on his plan to import rather than look on farmers (Serafica was behind that. SRA became notorious on his plan to import rather than look on farmers),” he added.
Zubiri said Serafica was also remiss in his job as the former SRA administrator failed to fully implement RA 10659 or the Sugarcane Industry Development Act (SIDA) of 2015, which aims to improve the industry’s competitiveness, which means to produce sugar at a lower cost.
Under the law, SIDA was given a budget of P2 billion in 2016 but it went down to P500 million in 2019 due to the SRA’s failure to implement the law, Zubiri said.
“That is the failure of Serafica to implement SIDA. Kasi sabi ng DBM hindi ma-absorb ng SRA at hindi nila ginagawa ang katungkulan nila sa batas (The Department of Budget and Management said the SRA cannot absorb the allotted budget because it is not doing its duty under the law),” Zubiri said.
With these, he said Serafica may be liable for certain violations of the anti-graft law, anti-hoarding, violation of the SIDA Law, and for making shortcuts in the processes. — With Raymond Africa