Steel firm hails dismissal of BOC case

MANILA, Philippines - Sanyo Seiki Stainless Steel Corp. has hailed President Aquino’s Matuwid na Daan campaign for rendering justice to a multi-million extortion complaint it filed against eight Bureau of Customs (BOC) officials, including a deputy commissioner who used to lead the Run After The Smugglers (RATS) team.

Sanyo Seiki also expressed gratitude and reaffirmed its solid support to the administration of commissioner Rufino Biazon for implementing efforts to reform the BOC which effected the dismissal of deputy commissioner Gregorio Chavez, former RATS chief.

“Our victory is not only a victory for Sanyo Seiki, but a victory for the Philippine government against corruption. There must be no room for influential and powerful bureaucratic syndicates and their modus operandi in a government striving to achieve true progress,” the steel firm stressed.

Sanyo Seiki had been allegedly harassed by a RATS team and pressured to pay P179 million for “unpaid taxes and duties.”

However, the steel firm questioned the mode of payment and the use of duties emissaries.

For its refusal to pay the demand, the RATS team attempted to raid the warehouses of Sanyo Seiki without mission orders, in direct violation of Customs Memorandum Order 52-93, after the steel firm rejected extortion efforts.