MISDECLARED. A personnel from the Bureau of Customs-Port of Cebu inspects the glutinous rice shipment from Vietnam misdeclared as "white rice" at the Cebu International Port (CIP) yard on Friday (Dec. 20, 2019). BOC-Cebu acting district collector Lawyer Charlito Martin Mendoza issued a warrant of seizure and detention (WSD) against the "entire shipment" of 10 container vans after the customs examiner found that five containers declared as white rice actually contained glutinous rice (super malagkit), which is a violation of the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act of 2016. (Photo courtesy of BOC-Cebu)
CEBU CITY -- The revenue efforts of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) here has scored anew with the seizure of five 20-footer container vans of glutinous rice misdeclared as white rice from Vietnam.
The five container vans were part of the 10 container vans cargo which the Cebu port discovered to contain “super malagkit” rice.
Lawyer Charlito Martin Mendoza, the acting district collector of BOC’s Cebu port, issued a warrant of seizure and detention (WSD) against the shipment consigned to Sagetics Enterprises that arrived the Cebu International Port (CIP) on Nov. 12, 2019.
“The examination of the shipment was conducted by the assigned examiner, Marc Henry Tan, together with representatives from members of CREST (compliance and regulatory enforcement for security and trade) of the Department of Agriculture, representatives from Bureau of Plant Industry and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency,” Mendoza said in his WSD order issued on Dec. 19.
The customs examiner found that the shipment contained “misdeclared goods, particularly five 20-footer container vans containing glutinous rice (super malagkit),” he added.
He said Tan recommended the seizure of the entire shipment.
Sagetics, he said, violated Section 1400 in relation to Section 1113 of Republic Act 10863, otherwise known as the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act, for not declaring the true content of five of the 10 container vans.
The provision of Section 1400 provides for the 250-percent surcharge of the duty and tax due on the misdeclared goods because of the discrepancy in duty and tax to be paid between what was determined upon the assessment and what was declared by the consignee.
However, lawyer Kenneth Kern Sesante, chief of the Auction and Cargo Disposal (ACDD) of BOC-Cebu, said the shipment will be placed under forfeiture proceedings and may face the risk of being actually forfeited if Sagetics failed to substantiate the alleged misdeclaration issue over the goods.
“It’s basic in our jurisdiction to give the consignee due process during the forfeiture proceedings,” Sesante said in a phone interview with the Philippine News Agency.
The record showed that Sagetics processed the alleged misdeclared glutinous rice shipment from Vietnam under customs import entry number C-42636-19 evidenced with a bill of lading number ASC0212193.
Mendoza ordered Capt. Jerry Arizabal, chief of the Enforcement and Security Service (ESS) of BOC-Cebu, to seize the shipment “and take custody of the same and to strictly observe Customs Memorandum Order No. 8-84 on making a return of service and submission of inventory or list of articles seized.”
The 10 container vans are now held at the CIP yard. (PNA)
