The following graft and corruption cases stated below, and involving employees from the Bureau of Customs, had been put to a close and the cases decided with finality...
This Bureau, an agency under the Department of Finance, is currently headed by Commissioner Angelito Alvarez (2010-).
ABOLITION OF CAS
14 August 2010, Saturday--Commissioner Alvarez issued Memorandum Order No. 30-2010 abolishing the Customs Accreditation Secretariat (CAS) and replacing it with the Interim Customs Accreditation and Registration (ICARE). This came up after reports that about 20 percent of the more than 9,000 importers and brokers given accreditation by the defunct CAS were bogus entities used as fronts by big-time financiers for smuggling operations.
Five business and service groups--Chamber of Customs Broker Inc., Port Users Confederation, Bonds Warehouse Operators in Cebu, Philexport, and the Philippine Chamber of Commerce Inc.--filed their complaints to the BoC about these shady performance of CAS.
ICARE is mandated to "purge bogus companies from the master list of accredited importers and brokers" and "ensure that the new registrants satisfy the fundamental requirements for accreditation." This means that around 1,600 registrants may be purged from the list. [Source: Raymund Antonio: "Alvarez zeroing in on Customs corruption." Manila Bulletin 14 August 2010]
CASES FILED ON PLUM BLOSSOM AND FULL STORY
5 August 2010, Thursday--Commissioner Alvarez filed a smuggling charge against the incorporators of Plum Blossom Import-Export Food Corp.--David Manuel S. Ubarde, Enrico L. de Castro, Rex M. Butuan and Edwin M. Benito. With a capital of P62,500 the company managed to import shipments worth billions of pesos. It passed off white rice from either Vietnam or Thailand as mung beans (zero-rated for customs duties and VAT under the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Free-Trade Agreement). These shipments passed through either the Port of Manila or Manila International Container Port.
A similar smuggling charge Alvarez filed against Manolo Antonio M. Medel, sole proprietor of Full Story Source Marketing. Incidentally both of their offices are just rooms apart in the Regina Building on Escolta Street in Manila.
The smuggling cases filed covered only four import-entry declarations involving 84 units of 20-footer container vans that came in on June 17, and released the next day. Alvarez estimated over P300 million defrauded value these represent in duties and taxes.
Meanwhile Customs discovered records of previous transactons dating to 2008 and 2009, and involving 102 entries and 2,400 containers.
Also included in the charge are All Gahon (a customs broker). [Source: Butch Fernandez: "Customs files raps vs rice smugglers," Business Mirror 5 Aug 2010]
[First Cases] CASES FILED ON GOLD MIND AND QUICK FLO
