Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales, head of government’s Task Force Anti-Smuggling (TFAS), led the inspection of over 20 warehouses at a private compound along A. Rivera Street near a popular mall at the Divisoria district in Manila.
Morales said the owners of some of the warehouses violated Customs laws by wrongfully declaring the prices of their imported merchandise and by paying insufficient taxes and duties to the BOC.
"We are conducting this raid on the information we received about alleged smuggling and violation of Intellectual Property Rights committed by owners of these warehouses. Prices were grossly undervalued and goods were misclassified in their import entries so they would pay lower taxes," Morales explained.
The BOC chief said at one warehouse of imported electronic appliances, the copy of import entry showed that video compact disc player was priced at 90 cents, or roughly P50.
"It appears that the price of a VCD player was grossly undervalued. Most of the crimes committed at Customs are of this kind," Morales said.
He said it would take them several days to finish the assessment of all imported products in the warehouses, but admitted they expect "multimillion-peso losses to the government due to violations of importers."
"We still have to compare the import entries they are presenting with our records. We have to inspect all the items and make an inventory," Morales explained.
He said intelligence reports gathered during the past two months showed the warehouses are the source of imported products being sold at the 168 and other shopping centers in Manila and Paranaque City.
"We are now killing the source. We will also trace the owners of all the smuggled goods we find in here," the BOC said. "Once we stop the source, we will no longer see smuggled products in malls."
Most of the imported products in the warehouses come from China, including ceramics, figurines, and plastic ware. Two warehouses were already empty when authorities arrived.
The BoC chief appealed for the cooperation of businessmen, saying "the future of our country significantly depends on the country’s collective efforts to curb this economic malaise."
An owner of one of the warehouses said the government’s campaign against smugglers is a welcome development, especially for importers who are paying right taxes.
Susan Tan, whose family has been importing household products from China for over 20 years now, cooperated with authorities and even assisted in the inventory of goods at her warehouse.
"Kung anong necessary action na makaktulong sa bansa, susuporta naman tayo. Open naman itong warehouse namin. Kaya nga namin sila pinapasok kasi wala kaming violations kaya hindi kami takot," she told reporters.
Bobby Ting, operations manager of the RAN-PMC warehouses, admitted that they only have a few requirements in accepting tenants.
"As long as they are not bringing in drugs and firecrackers, we accept them. Nagpapakita naman and mga tenant namin ng import entries, but it’s not our job to check them simply because we are not capable of doing so," he said.
Ting said they have also been cooperating with authorities.
Last March 16, the BOC raided the popular 168 Mall in Divisoria and collected over P10 million in unpaid taxes from stall owners after a month-long inventory. The same retail shopping mall reopened last April 26.
Morales reiterated that their intensified campaign against smugglers was a crucial factor in meeting their P197-billion target collection this year.