Customs generates P393 M from auction of seized rice at MICP

MANILA, Philippines - The Bureau of Customs posted a record P393.13 million in sales from public auction of seized rice shipments in its Manila International Container Port (MICP) last Thursday.

A total of 315 container vans containing 4,679 metric tons of glutinous rice or malagkit and 3,510 metric tons of white rice were sold at an average price of P56.93 per kilogram and P36.10 per kilogram, respectively.

“We are pleased with the outcome of the auction which we conducted with utmost care and consideration for transparency, accountability and compliance with policies and procedures,” BOC-MICP district collector Elmir dela Cruz said in a statement.

“On top of that, the revenue we generated is 31 percent over the minimum floor price of P299.69 million we had initially set,” Dela Cruz said, adding that the sale of the seized rice had also helped reduce congestion in the country’s largest port.

A total of 16 bidders participated in the auction. They were Jomarro Rice Mill, LOM Marketing, Leeward Enterprises, Nenita Biag, Purefeeds Corp., Sta. Rosa Farm, Soda Enterprise, Veramar Rice Mill, Victor del Rosario, Villarubio Pharmacare, Universal Pacific Corp. and Marolau Gen. Mdse.

Eight lots were sold to three bidders – four lots were won by Sta. Rosa Farm, three by Victor del Rosario and one by LOM Marketing.

The auctioned rice represented shipment seized from Bold Bidder Marketing and the San Carlos Multi Purpose Cooperative from October to November 2013 for lack of required import permits from the National Food Authority (NFA).

The seized rice was subsequently forfeited in favor of the government. As the rice shipment auctioned is still subject of on-going cases, proceeds from the auction would be held in trust by the BOC.

Under the law, rice importation requires permit from the NFA. These are regulated through quotas by the NFA to ensure fair competition and the viability of the local rice industry. This policy has been upheld by the World Trade Organization (WTO) Committee on Trade and Goods, which recently allowed the Philippines to extend its special treatment for rice through the imposition of quantitative restrictions until 2017.

The auction was almost stopped by the appearance of lawyers representing Bold Bidder Marketing and Jade Bros. Farm and Livestock.

They accompanied representatives from the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) who served a 20-day temporary restraining order on the sale of some 70 container vans with about 36,400 50-kg sacks of white rice imported by Jade Bros.

In a two-page resolution signed by Associate Justices Lovell Bautista and Esperanza Fabon-Victorino last Sept. 11, the CTA’s Third Division barred BOC from auctioning the rice shipment of Jade Bros. to prevent “irreparable injury” on the petitioner while the case is still being heard.

“The very basis invoked by these rice traders is now moot and academic. We have always maintained that all imported rice without valid NFA permits is illegal and now that the WTO has allowed the Philippines to keep imposing quotas on rice imports, this policy should be very clear by now to all rice importers,” said BOC Commissioner John Sevilla.

The winning bidders all paid 50 percent of the bid price at the close of the auction. They were required to pay the balance yesterday.