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An oil firm being investigated for supposed technical smuggling of gas oil has settled its unpaid duties and taxes with Bureau of Customs (BOC).

BOC Commissioner Napoleon Morales said Andan Enterprises Inc. paid P10.958 million in additional import taxes and surcharges for its three shipments that were reportedly undervalued by almost half their original price.

Morales said the payment from Andan confirmed that it underpaid the taxes and surcharges on its shipments: “I don’t think they would settle the amount if they didn’t have to. They paid additional taxes and fines simply because their earlier payment was not enough.”

The payment for Andan’s shipments was based on $560 per metric ton, which was 34 percent above the original value of $364 metric ton.

Investigation conducted by intelligence agents of BOC showed Andan had wrongfully declared at $286.05 per metric ton the value of its three entries of imported gas oil from Taiwan-based Formosa Petrochemical Corp. It was learned the average value of imported gas oil amounts to over $500 per metric ton.

Customs officials believed the value used by Andan was substantially low as compared to the value used by other firms such as Oilink International Corp., which imports the same commodity from the same country of origin at $516.97 per metric ton.

The BOC is also running after allegedly unpaid taxes from another oil firm, Mawalo Resources Inc. It expects to collect some P37 million in additional duties from both companies.

The two firms have already denied the BOC’s allegations, arguing that prices of petroleum products from a country vary depending on the terms given to each importer by suppliers or exporting countries. –  Edu Punay