New Customs commissioner orders immediate auction of seized goods

Newly-appointed Bureau of Customs (BoC) Commissioner George Jereos ordered yesterday the immediate auction of seized perishable goods to generate more revenues for the cash-strapped government.

On his first day in office as head of one of government’s biggest revenue-earning agencies, Jereos issued an order directing all district collectors to dispose through public bidding all apprehended shipments of perishable goods in their respective areas of jurisdiction to prevent these goods from going to waste.

"We have to move fast in looking for other sources of revenues to help the government cushion the impact of the budgetary deficit," Jereos said, as he prioritized his agenda to address the problem on how to improve further the tax collection of the BoC.

The order also required all district collectors on the new guideline regarding seized perishable goods, which called for the disposal of the perishable goods within 10 days from the issuance of a warrant of seizure and detention.

Hundreds of millions of pesos had been going to the drain because the BoC had allowed the perishable goods to rot, instead of disposing them through auction where it could earn additional revenues.

This was evidenced by the dumping early this year of close to a hundred container vans of perishable goods which consisted of vegetable, canned goods and fruits. They were seized for lack of import permits.

Jereos also spelled out the rule on seizure proceedings of shipments of perishable goods to pave the way for their immediate auction. Henceforth, the legal division should act in the shortest possible time the legal question involved.

The rule provides that the apprehending officer shall immediately request the assessment office of the port concerned to conduct a thorough examination and to submit a detailed inventory and appraisal report, which would contain that a certificate that the goods are liable to perish or be wasted and should be disposed through public bidding.

The auction division shall immediately set the date of the public bidding and shall also determine the floor price of the perishable goods based on the inventory and appraisal report furnished by the assessment division.

There are still hundreds of seized shipment of perishable goods lying at the piers and exposed to the elements. Unless they are disposed right away, they would suffer the same fate of rotten perishable goods that were dumped in several landfills.

Jereos’ move was an indication that he has accepted the challenge of Finance Secretary Juanita Amatong to further improve the bureau’s tax collection performance as the government needs also the revenues it could muster to reduce its budgetary deficit.