BOC seizes P25-M misdeclared goods at GenSan port

GENERAL SANTOS CITY--The Bureau of Customs (BOC) seized over the weekend around PHP25 million worth of “misdeclared” shipments and other imported goods that were found lacking permits at the Makar port here.

Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapeña ordered the forfeiture and seizure of the imported cargoes after leading the opening on Saturday of at least 10 container vans that remained idle at the port’s container yard in the last three to five years.

The official said the seized items included imported cars and parts, used clothing and other second hand items, cigarettes, oil products and sugar.

“Most of these were misdeclared items and other violations as we found in their (shipping) documents,” Lapeña told reporters.    

For instance, he said several shipments declared as milk products were found containing oil during the inspection.

The container vans were initially held by BOC personnel here due to the lack of permits from the Food and Drug Administration.

Lapeña said they found cargoes supposedly containing car parts but turned out to be complete units that were just disassembled.

A container van was found containing imported sugar that did not have permits from the Sugar Regulatory Administration, he said.

The cigarettes, which came from Indonesia, were seized by the BOC here and at the port of Glan in Sarangani province form April to May.   

Angelito Agulto, acting BOC port collector here, said they had flagged the shipments for possible violations after evaluation of their documents.

“As it turned out, the declared items in the documents did not correspond with the actual contents of the shipments,” Agulto said.

Some of the shipments, specifically the used clothing, were unloaded at the port way back in 2013, he said.

He said they have issued warrants of seizure and detention against the misdeclared imported shipments.

The warrants were specifically for "misdeclaration, misclassification and undervaluation in goods declaration" as provided for in the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act.

BOC personnel here will destroy the seized contents of the container vans. (PNA)