What are Customs officials up to?
A TURKISH-AMERICAN adventurer who became the first person in history to complete a solo and entirely human-powered circumnavigation of the globe in 2012 arrived in the country last Thursday, completing a mission to reach Asia aboard his trusty rowboat from Crescent City, California.
Erden Eruí§ started his audacious trip on June 22, 2021 on his US-flagged vessel dubbed “Around-N-Up” and arrived in Legazpi City eight days ahead of his target date of April. He intends to stay in the country for a year before proceeding to the next stage of his mission — to reach Mt. Everest and try to reach the summit.
That plan, however, is about to be scuttled by two overzealous Bureau of Customs officials in Legazpi City —Amelia Garcia, acting chief of the Assessment Division, and Engr. Arthur Sevilla, Jr. acting district collector.
Malaya-Business Insight learned of the plight of Erden Eruí§ (pronounced ‘Air-den Air-rooch’) from a Facebook post of journalist and broadcaster Apa Ongpin.
In his post, Ongpin said the Bureau of Customs intends to put Eruí§’s boat “under guard” and “force him to transport it, at his expense, to a bonded warehouse, where it will remain locked up, again at his expense, and he will have no access to it, until he departs again, which is scheduled for January or February of 2023.”
Ongpin wrote that under Customs Administrative Order 14-2019, the maximum rate for storage at Customs Bonded Warehouses is ₱6.89 per kilogram a day. The dry weight of “Around-N-Up” is 500 kg.
“Thus, the base rate to store the boat there is ₱3,445 a DAY. Mr. Eruí§ originally planned to depart from the Philippines in 330 days. The warehouse would thus cost him… are you ready? ₱1,136,850. That is not inclusive of other fees,” Ongpin wrote.
Tongue in cheek, Ongpin called out the Department of Finance, Bureau of Customs Commissioner Rey Leonard Guerrero, and Department of Tourism Secretary Berna Puyat, telling them: “Is this how we want to say: Welcome to the Philippines, Mr. Eruí§!”
Ongpin said Ms. Garcia and Engr. Sevilla “are overstepping their authority.”
Ongpin said the two Customs officials “initially tried to treat it (Around-N-Up) as a commercial vessel engaged in foreign trade, because Customs regulations give them authority and control over such vessels. When the obvious absurdity of this was pointed out to them, Ms. Garcia insisted they still have the authority, and gave the following example: If a foreigner arrives in the Philippines wearing an expensive watch, Customs has the duty to inspect and register that watch and ensure that the foreigner brings it out again with him when he departs.”
Ongpin noted that “despite having traveled in and out of the Philippines hundreds of times, I have never actually witnessed this watch inspection being done. Furthermore, does she mean to say that the watch then has to be transported under guard and left in a bonded warehouse, at the owner’s expense and risk?”
Ongpin continued: “Common sense tells you the vessel should be treated as a ‘visiting yacht.’ The well-established and only procedure to grant entry to a visiting yacht is that it must undergo a Customs, Immigration and Quarantine inspection, which has already taken place.
“Since this is a foreign-flagged boat, by international (and Philippine) maritime law, the entry grants it the right of safe passage through Philippine territory. By the way, there is no written limit in Philippine law (on) how long a visiting yacht may stay. However, in order to be a visiting yacht, it must have a valid registration in another jurisdiction.
“Forcing the owner to surrender the boat to a bonded warehouse is tantamount to an arrest and temporary confiscation, which is without basis, since no violation was committed, and is in itself a violation of the right of safe passage.
“Ms. Garcia then responded that it cannot be a visiting yacht because (according to her) it did not enter the Philippines under its own power. This misinterpretation stems from the intent of the rule: if a yacht or any kind of boat, enters a country carried on another vessel, then yes, it is a commercial good, not a visiting yacht. For Ms. Garcia to insist that the rowboat did not enter the Philippines under its own power is almost inconceivably stupid, and it is why I wrote this post.
“But guess what, she said something even better. She keeps telling Mr. Eruí§ that Customs is not charging him any fees, and they only want to ASSIST him in complying with the law. Your government at work, people!”
Referring to the ₱1,136,850 that Mr. Eruí§ needs to shell out, and that is not inclusive of other fees, Ongpin said: “This is the value of the ASSISTANCE offered by our heroic Bureau of Customs personnel, Ms. Amelia Garcia and Engr. Arthur Sevilla.”
Malaya-Business Insight has sent e-mails to thru the BoC website to Ms. Garcia and Engr. Sevilla, asking for their reactions to Mr. Ongpin’s post.
Mr. Eruí§ had rowed solo all the way from Crescent City to Waikiki, Hawaii. From there, he proceeded to Guam, and then to the Philippines.
He aims to raise awareness about plastics problem in the Ocean in collaboration with Ocean Recovery Alliance, a registered non-profit organization in California and registered charitable organization in Hong Kong, with the aim to use new technologies, innovations, creativity and collaborations to solve issues that face the health of the ocean. He is also collecting ambient sound data for NOAA scientist Jay Barlow using a high-frequency hydrophone. The data will identify the range of Beaked Whales along his transect.
(Barlow is a scientist who has worked for 40 years with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In November 2020, he and a team of scientists captured photographs, video recordings and the sounds of what is believed to be an entirely new beaked whale species north of Mexico’s San Benito Islands, a discovery that Barlow described as “sending chills up my spine.”)
Mr. Eruí§, born in Nicosia, Cyprus in 1961, is the leading ocean rower in the world today. He is the recipient of the 2013 Citation of Merit from the prestigious Explorers Club, one of the 2013 Adventurers of the Year — “nine individuals changing the face of global adventure” by Outside Magazine, and one of the 50 Most Adventurous Men by Men’s Journal.
Fifteen Guinness World Records are currently registered to his name. He is already listed in the 2009, 2012, 2014, 2017 and 2018 Guinness books of World Records for various accomplishments, among them being the first to complete a solo circumnavigation of the world by human power; first to row the three oceans: Atlantic, Pacific and Indian; and first to row across an ocean from the Southern to the Northern hemisphere.
Malaya-Business Insight will keep you posted about Mr. Eruí§’s plight. — with Raymond Tribdino
