CA stops P5B smuggling case vs. Phoenix Petroleum

MANILA, Philippines - The Court of Appeals (CA) stopped on Tuesday the government from filing a P5-billion smuggling case against Phoenix Petroleum Philippines Inc., citing the Department of Justice's (DOJ) "extraordinary swiftness" in lodging the raps which allegedly endangers the firm's rights.

"An initial assessment on the instant case reveals the extraordinary swiftness of the DOJ in reversing itself and in rendering the challenged resolution thereby disregarding the petitioner's right to a full-blown preliminary investigation," CA Associate Justice Francisco Acosta said in a six-page resolution which imposed a 60-day temporary restraining order on the case.

"It appears that the DOJ allowed the Bureau of Customs (BOC) to introduce new matters in its motion for reconsideration and in its reply which were eventually considered and made basis for the issuance of the assailed resolution… Simply put, unless the implementation of the questioned resolution is restrained, the petitioner may stand trial for criminal charges which he had no chance to rebut," the CA said, adding that the respondent's right to liberty would be seriously placed in danger.

The decision followed after DOJ ordered the filing of a P5-billion smuggling complaint against Phoenix's President and Chief Executive Officer Dennis Uy and broker Jorlan Cabanes.

DOJ said the two  have personal knowledge "and direct participation in the operations of Phoenix, including the processing and release of shipments that were already abandoned in favor of the government for failure to file import entries within 30 days from discharge of goods."

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said the Phoenix documents contain discrepancies compared to the documents submitted by the BOC regarding the questionable shipment.

The importations from June 2010 to November 2010 with a combined dutiable value of P589.52 million are without import entries, DOJ said.

For the P1.96 billion June 2010 to April 2010 importation of various petroleum products, the DOJ said Phoenix submitted supporting documents but BOC submitted evidence that it was about a different shipment.

"With all the discrepancies, inconsistencies and variance in the documents submitted by respondents vis-à-vis the documents submitted by the complainant relative to the shipments in question, we cannot sustain the finding in our resolution of Nov. 16, 2012 that dismissed the complaint against the respondent," the DOJ said.

Phoenix filed a motion for reconsideration before the DOJ stating that the order to file the smuggling charges violated its president and CEO's right to due process.

The CA has set a hearing on June 27, 2013.