Port of Cebu (PNA photo by John Rey Saavedra)
CEBU CITY -- The Bureau of Customs–Port of Cebu has held a shipment of Thai rice smuggled four months before the Rice Tariffication law was fully implemented in March this year.
Lawyer Charlito Martin Mendoza, BOC-Cebu acting district collector, issued abandonment proceedings against five 20-footer container vans of white rice imported from Thailand and consigned to an agricultural company based in General Santos City.
According to the notice and decree of abandonment, a copy of which was sent to the Philippine News Agency on Tuesday, shipment with container numbers BMOU-122844-5, OCGU-209217, TRHU-325820-9, WHSU-206076-7 and WHSU-275907-6 and covered by bill of lading number 0359X52799 arrived at the Cebu International Port (CIP) on Nov. 10, 2018.
The shipment was reported to contain “Thai white rice (with) 5 percent broken”, but the claimant or the consignee “has not filed any request for extension of period to file entry prior to the deadline".
Mendoza said his office, through the Entry Processing Unit (EPU), has sent a notice to the consignee, Agcor Consolidated Agriventures Corp., in its office at Unit No. A Catalina Bldg. 1, Salvani St. in Soriano Subdivision City Heights in General Santos City, but it failed to file import entry declaration “despite lapse of unreasonable length of time.”
Importation of rice prior to the implementation of Republic Act 11203 or the Rice Tariffication law of 2019 required an import permit (IP) from the Department of Agriculture. As no one lodged an entry over the cargo, BOC-Cebu suggested they are not covered by an IP.
Jessica Luzano, head of EPU in BOC-Cebu, told the Philippine News Agency that Agcor denied importing the Thai rice.
In its one-page letter addressed to Luzano, the president of Agcor, Divina Aguilar, claimed that the company “has no shipment of any sort on the mentioned dates respecting the mentioned contents.”
Aguilar manifested that Agcor will not file any import entry for the shipment, considering that the imported rice cargo is not legally consigned to the company.
“As provided for under Section 1129(b) of the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act, an imported article is deemed abandoned when the owner, importer or consignee fails to file the goods declaration within the prescribed period under Section 407 of the same law,” Mendoza said.
He added that the office of Customs Commissioner Leonardo Guerrero issued a memorandum directing all collection districts to strictly implement provisions on implied abandonment under the new customs law.
Mendoza directed the Auction and Cargo Disposal Division (ACDD) of BOC-Cebu “to take immediate action for the disposal of the articles in the manner prescribed by law.
ACDD chief lawyer Kenneth Kern Sesante said the acting district collector will lead in the inspection of the shipment on Thursday. (PNA)
