Customs to auction overstaying rice at Manila Port

Rappler.com

This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

Customs to auction overstaying rice at Manila Port
The public auction, set for August 25, includes over 10 million kilos of overstaying rice shipments and is expected to generate P186 million ($4.026 million) for the government

MANILA, Philippines – The Bureau of Customs-Manila International Container Port (BOC-MICP) will hold a public auction of its overstaying cargo including over 200,000 sacks or over 10 million kilos of rice shipments on Tuesday, August 25.

“In compliance [with] the directive of Customs Commissioner Alberto Lina to raise non-traditional revenues out of overstaying shipments and to decongest the container yards, I have ordered the immediate disposal thru Public Auction Sale of 408 container vans of overstaying rice shipments and other assorted items to preserve the value and quality of the goods,” said BOC-MICP District Collector Elmir Dela Cruz.

The upcoming public auction at MICP is expected to generate more than P186 million ($4.026 million) in revenue for the government. 

As of April of this year, BOC-MICP conducted 17 public auctions, generating a total of P580 million ($13.10 million) – 346% in excess of its full-year 2014 auction revenue target of P130 million ($2.94 million).

Public viewing of merchandise and pre-bid conference for all qualified bidders will be on Monday, August 24, 2015.

“The public auction will include the selling of over 10,000 tons of overstaying rice shipments majority of which are consigned to Silent Royalty Marketing and Starcraft International Trading that arrived in MICP two years ago,” Dela Cruz said.

Legal battle

According to BOC-MICP Auction and Disposal Division Chief Gerry Macatangay, the agency was not able to auction off the rice shipments consigned to Silent Royalty and Starcraft earlier because of court cases that these importers filed against BOC.

The BOC seized illegally imported rice shipments of Silent Royalty and Starcraft in 2013.

It filed smuggling-related charges at the Department of Justice against the top officials and Customs brokers of the companies for bringing in rice without the proper government permits in violation of the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines (TCCP) and for importing rice in excess of the Minimum Access Volume set by the NFA.

Both Starcraft and Silent Royalty filed charges against the BOC, claiming that private importers could bring in rice without security permits as import restrictions had already been lifted through a World Trade Organization agreement in 2012.

The BOC, however, argued that under Philippine law, only the National Food Administration (NFA) can import rice and companies that wish to do the same must secure an import permit from the agency.

“Even if there are charges pending in court, we will auction off the 336 20-footer container vans of white and glutinous rice consigned to Silent Royalty Marketing and 63 20-footer container vans of white and glutinous rice consigned to Starcraft International Trading that arrived last October and November 2013,” Macatangay said.

He added that the the proceeds that will come from the sale of these shipments will be held in trust pursuant to Section 2607 of the TCCP.

Other items for auction

Other items up for auction are rice shipments from Greyvoid Corporation and Intercontinental Grains; assorted motorcycle parts, bicycles from Panda Vine International Trading; assorted apparel from Pie Link Trading; one unit 2006 Toyota RAV4 from Juan Ballinan Jose; and used speakers, piano, refrigerator, furniture, kitchenware, toys, bicycles, from Marilou Vidal Surplus Enterprise.

“The Law Division-MICP, sent a notice to claim or file entry to the said consignees but said letters came back for the reason that the consignees were no longer located at the address indicated in the manifest,” Macatangay said.

Their lawyers were also furnished a copy of the notice to file entry, he added. – Rappler.com

 $1 = P46.19

Add a comment

Sort by

There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.

Summarize this article with AI

How does this make you feel?

Loading
Download the Rappler App!