P1.5M hot TV sets seized from appliance store

The Bureau of Customs has seized seven units of top of the line HDTV/Sharp LED Television Set from an appliance store chain in high-end malls in Pasig City and Mandaluyong City  after the store failed to produce proof of payment of duties and taxes.

According to Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon, the confiscation was prompted by a December 18, 2012 request from Sharp Philippines Director Silverio F. Montalbo for the BoC to conduct an investigation of the Listening in Styles stores at Shangri-La Plaza Mall and in Eastwood, Pasig City, for possible illegal importation of high-end TV sets after Sharp Philippines officials got suspicious of its TV sets on display at the Listening in Styles stores.

“Immediately, after receiving the letter from Sharp Philippines, I ordered the Bureau’s Group under Deputy Commissioner Danilo Lim to conduct the investigation and to undertake all appropriate actions” Biazon said.

On January 17, 2013, after weeks of surveillance and upon Biazon’s issuance of the Letter of Authority (LOA) the BOC-IG operatives went to the Listening and Style stores and seized the imported TV sets.

The seized TV sets were one unit  of 90 inches HDTV, the worlds largest LED Sharp Television set worth P600,000, two  units of  80 inches LED Sharp TV worth P300,000 each, and four units of  60 inches LED Sharp Television set worth P85,000. The total TV haul amounted to P1.5 million.

The Bureau of Customs will not limit its anti-smuggling operations to the ports, we will enforce our mandate to get smugglers and smuggled goods anywhere in the Philippines” Biazon said.

Lim, meanwhile, said his group is now also on the look-out for other possible illegal importations using the same scheme, even as he encouraged other business entities who may find suspicious imported products in the market to also seek BOC’s help.

Meanwhile, the legal counsel for Listening in Style submitted an Offer of Settlement claiming that the TV sets were sold to Listening in Style allegedly by an overseas Filipino worker.