BOC urged: Probe technical smuggling of cement

MANILA, Philippines – The Bureau of Customs (BOC) has been asked to investigate alleged technical smuggling in cement importations.

The government has supposedly lost P4 billion in revenues due to smuggling of cement, the cause-oriented group Advocates for Good Governance led by lawyer Argee Guevarra said.

The group urged BOC Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon to look into the importations by several cement firms for possible undervaluation of duties.

Guevarra alleged that cement shipments have passed through the BOC in the past several months with grossly undervalued freight charges.

“The prevailing freight charges for this type of imports range from $19 to $22.90 per metric ton. However, some cement importers are paying as low as $8 per metric ton,” the group said.

Guevarra asked Faeldon to address smuggling operations at the BOC.

Fire trucks import

The BOC chief may have been misinformed on the alleged undervaluation of 469 fire trucks imported from China and consigned to the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) between June 2015 and March this year.

The joint venture of Kolonwel Trading and Hubei Jiangnan said they were not treated fairly by the previous administration when their importation was not granted tax exemption.

Mark Andrew Santiago, lawyer for the joint venture, said the tax exemption was provided under Joint Circular No. 1 of the Department of Budget and Management and Department of Finance dated April 30, 2014.

Earlier, the BOC said the duties paid for the 244 units of 1,000-gallon fire trucks and 225 units of 500-gallon fire trucks were much less than the required P2.5 billion.

Santiago said the duties paid by the joint venture were based on the total value of the fire trucks, including delivery charges, miscellaneous expenses, commissioning and testing expenses, handling fees, training expenses, sales tax and value-added tax.

He said the misunderstanding could have been avoided had the previous officials of the Department of the Interior and Local Government and BFP applied for tax exemption.

He said the agreement between the BFP and the joint venture saved the government around P6 billion.

The joint venture believes that the losing bidders who had gained from the supply of overpriced fire trucks in the past were behind the smear campaign.