BOC-Cebu waives close to P300 million in duties and taxes of foreign donations

CEBU, Philippines - The Bureau of Customs-Cebu has waived at least P278 million in duties and taxes of foreign donations for victims of super typhoon Yolanda in the Visayas.

But the amount could be higher because the figure obtained by The FREEMAN was only for air freights that arrived at the Mactan Cebu International Airport and does not include shipment that arrived at the Cebu International Port.

The data from the sub-port of the Bureau of Customs in Mactan shows that it has waived a total of P150 million in duties and P128 million in taxes. The donations came from at least 48 countries has a total value of $65.1 million and a total volume of 25.5 kilograms.

The United States of America tops the list of donors with a total of $17.8 million followed by Dubai $15.7million, Thailand $11.678 million, United Kingdom $11.606 million, and China $10.8million.

Other donors include Vietnam, Taiwan, Italy, India, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, Japan, Belgium, Indonesia, Pakistan, Canada, Brunei, Spain, Hungary, Ireland, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Holland, France, Ghana, United Arab  Emirates, Oman, Switzerland, Denmark, Hongkong, Samoa Island, Guam, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Finland, Bangladesh, Ireland, Bahrain, Sweden, Panama, Ukraine, South Africa, Portugal, and Saudi Arabia.

BOC reiterated that donated relief goods are exempted from import duties and the processing of customs clearance and documents are expedited through the agency’s One-Stop-Shop, created by virtue of Customs Memorandum Order 8-2013 issued on November 11, 2013.

But while donated relief goods are duties and tax exempt there are laws and processes governing the exemption and failure to abide with the same may result to non-entitlement of said exemptions.

The agency said that the duty-free exemptions do not include stevedoring, storage, and demurrage costs because these are services from private companies. — (FREEMAN)