Court upholds BOC move to seize 437 shipping containers

MANILA, Philippines - A Batangas court upheld the move of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) to seize the 437 container vans that reportedly belonged to suspected rice smuggler Bold Bidder Marketing and General Merchandise.

In a statement, the BOC said it scored against rice smuggling activities in the country. The shipments were seized for lack of the required permits from the National Food Authority (NFA).

“This decision reinforces the legal right of the Bureau of Customs not to allow the entry of rice without the required permits from the NFA. From the start, we were committed to challenging judicial rulings that favor illegal rice importations that have disastrous effects on our farmers,” Customs Commissioner John Sevilla said.

The Batangas Regional Trial Court Branch 5 under Judge Eleuterio Larisma Bathan dismissed the petition for declaratory relief filed the firm’s representative Ivy Souza against the NFA and BOC for lack of jurisdiction.

The court said it could not assume jurisdiction over the petition since Souza had already violated a circular that requires an importer to secure a permit from the NFA to import rice.

The court said an action for declaratory relief cannot prosper if the questioned law or regulations have already been violated.

“In other words, a court has no more jurisdiction over an action for declaratory relief if its subject has already been infringed or transgressed before the institution of the action,” the court said.

Souza filed the petition last November, arguing the NFA circular has no more effect because of the special treatment of quantitative restrictions accorded to the Philippines under the World Trade Organization (WTO) had already expired.

However, the WTO Committee on Trade and Goods has allowed the Philippines to extend its special treatment for rice through the imposition of quantitative restrictions until 2017.