BOC to auction smuggled sugar

MANILA, Philippines - The Bureau of Customs (BOC) will auction by the end of the year the shipments of sugar smuggled into the port of Cebu last month, a ranking official told The STAR yesterday.

Customs Port of Cebu District Collector Ronnie Silvestre said that his office is already investigating the matter as he vowed to go after the perpetrators of the smuggle attempt.

Silvestre also said there would be no whitewash on the incident. “We are investigating the matter already and are now preparing to auction the smuggled goods,” he said.

The X-Ray Inspection Project personnel assigned at the Bureau of Customs Port of Cebu District Office foiled the smuggle attempt of the sugar shipments which arrived at the Cebu port on Nov. 22.

The goods were contained in at least nine 20-foot containers of white Thailand sugar worth over P7 million which were consigned to two locators at the Mactan Economic Processing Zone in Lapu-Lapu City in Cebu.

Silvestre said a total of 10 20-foot containers of sugar have been accounted for and would be auctioned by the end of the year.

He also said that the error on the Warrant of Seizure and Detention (WSD) for the goods was a mere “oversight” and has been corrected.

The warrant noted that the shipments were “said to contain sugar” in contrast to what the consignee declared in the import entry.

Muramoto Audio Visual, the consignee, misdeclared the goods as plastic parts for eyeglasses instead of sugar instead of sugar.

Prior to the sugar smuggling attempt in Cebu, the BOC foiled the smuggling attempt of 420,000 sacks of Indian rice.

The BOC is the government’s second largest revenue agency. It is tasked to collect P347 billion this year and as such, is stepping up efforts against smuggling.