New judge to handle case vs Mighty

MANILA, Philippines - The Manila Regional Trial  Court Branch 39 will handle the case involving the Bureau of Customs and cigarette manufacturer Mighty Corp. after the RTC  judge initially assigned inhibited from the case in connection with the raid conducted by BOC agents on the firm’s warehouses.

The re-raffle of the case officiated by Manila RTC executive judge Reynaldo Alhambra resulted in the transfer of the case to Judge Noli Diaz of Branch 39.

But the case was only assigned to Branch 39, a regular court, after it was first raffled to Branch 38, a family court.

The court staff at Branch 39 confirmed that they have received the records on the Mighty Corp. case from Branch 1, which first handled the case but noted that it might take long before issuing an order as to when the next hearing would take place.

Judge Tita Bughao Alisuag of the Manila RTC Branch 1 said in her two-page order issued on Wednesday that she inhibited in light of the administrative complaint filed with the Supreme Court (SC) by Customs commissioner Nicanor Faeldon, which was already released to the media even though there no order yet from the Supreme Court for her to file a comment on the case.

Faeldon, in a 24-page complaint filed earlier this week, accused Alisuag of gross ignorance of the law in issuing a temporary restraining order (TRO) on March 6 against the continuous raids of the BOC and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) against Mighty Corp.

He explained that Alisuag committed gross violation of the New Code of Judicial Conduct for allegedly “exhibiting unquestionable bias and partiality in favor of Mighty Corp.”

Alisuag issued the TRO, effective until March 23, following a petition filed by Mighty Corp. on March 3 claiming that BOC and BIR operatives still conducted the raid though they allegedly discovered no counterfeit, fake or smuggled goods.

Mighty Corp. yesterday asked the BOC to lift the preventive suspension order it issued against the firm last Monday because there was no legal basis.

In a nine-page motion for reconsideration, Mighty’s lawyer Sigfrid Fortun also asked for the release of shipments belonging to the tobacco company, or for it to be allowed to process and be imposed with the correct duties and taxes on all its incoming shipments and even those that have arrived, to not disrupt the manufacturing operations and dislocate workers, downstream suppliers and their families.

He added that the issuance of a preventive suspension order came as a surprise to the company.

“The Notice of Preventive Suspension failed to state or show a clear violation committed by MC to justify the suspension of its accreditation as an importer. It states reasons that are not backed by facts, citations that are imagined, regulations that are inexistent and curiously show an intent to destroy a 72-year-old local tobacco manufacturing company employing thousands of workers who support thousands of families, and who rely on imported raw materials for its continued operation,” Fortun said.

Mighty Corp. has been transacting with the BOC for decades and the bureau’s records would show that its shipments had been lawful and compliant with Customs laws and regulations, he added.

“Not once has its shipments been subjected to warrants of seizure and detention or forfeiture. MC has never been charged with smuggling or for violations of Customs laws, rules and regulations,” he said.

The motion also pointed out that the suspension of the importer-accreditation of MC had no legal basis since there was nothing in the Customs memorandum order that states that there is only a pending administrative case against the firm, which is not a ground for suspension.

The accreditation of an importer is suspended only when the offense has been decided with finality.

Earlier this month, the BOC and the BIR confiscated 11,044 master cases of Mighty cigarettes worth P215 million in General Santos City and 62,200 master cases valued at P1.98 billion in San Simon, Pampanga.

The BOC also seized three more containers carrying Mighty cigarettes in the Port of Cebu and in Tacloban in an operation led by commissioner Faeldon himself. The seized goods contain alleged fake tax stamps. – With Evelyn Macairan