BOC execs face smuggling raps

The Bureau of Customs (BOC) filed a criminal complaint yesterday against executives of a Customs bonded warehouse and several Customs officers at the Department of Justice (DOJ) for allegedly smuggling imported oil that cost the government P8.5 million in lost duties and taxes.

Now facing criminal charges for violation of the Tariff and Customs Code are Arturo Lopez, an executive of Petroline Resources Inc., a company registered as a Customs bonded warehouse; Rameses Diuyan, Petroline Customs broker, Port of Davao Customs district collector Aniceto Sanchez, Customs Bonded Warehouse Division chief Ebenezer Arellano; Port of Davao Customs officers Antonio Michael Plate and Antonio Ordona; Petroline warehouseman Allan Neil Ibanez; and Customs conducting guard Roberto Elivera.

According to Customs Commissioner Alberto Lina, several Customs personnel assigned at the Port of Davao allegedly conspired to allow Petroline to withdraw fuel from its warehouse under questionable circumstances.

Lina said the fuel withdrawn from Petroline’s warehouse supposedly for boats transporting bananas in Mindanao were instead sold commercially without payment of the required taxes.

Lina said that as a Customs bonded warehouse, Petroline is authorized to import tax-free diesel and other raw materials for the manufacture of intermediate fuel oil, a product for industrial use, resulting from the mixture of bunker fuel, fuel and additives and to supply the banana boats in Mindanao with fuel.

He said that BOC investigations showed that Petroline has been importing only diesel fuel and not the bunker fuel and additives required in their manufacturing process.

The fuel oil, according to Lina, is allowed to come in duty-free because they are supposedly loaded to vessels that export goods which means that the fuel will also leave the country and not be used locally.

It also appears that several BOC personnel at the Port of Davao conspired to allow Petroline to withdraw fuel from its warehouse under questionable circumstances. The fuels withdrawn from Petroline’s warehouse purportedly for banana boats in Tagum, Davao were never loaded in those boats and were probably sold commercially, without the company paying the proper taxes" Lina said.

Lina said that the Petroline allegedly smuggled 2 million liters of diesel fuel worth about P60 million in October 2004 and January 2005 at the Port of Davao City.

He said that because of this, the government lost P8.5 million in duties.

The filing of charges, Lina said, was part of his agency’s intensified program dubbed as "Run After The Smugglers (RATS)." The campaign is part of the three-pronged crusade of the government against economic saboteurs in the country.

The BOC’s RATS program complements two other programs of the Department of Finance which are the "Run After Tax Evaders (RATE)" and the "Revenue Integrity Protection Service (RIPS)."

"RATS will not spare BOC personnel if they are found collaborating with smugglers. Our action will not spare even our own people if they are guilty of abetting smuggling," Lina said.

The BOC chief said his agency will file charges every two weeks at the DOJ as a warning that the government is serious in fighting smuggling and corruption.

He also encouraged the public to support his campaign by providing information and to work closely with the DOJ and send a message to the smugglers.