THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) on Thursday announced that it earned a total of P161.35 million from the public auction of 109,500 sacks of rice that were earlier seized by the agency for lack of import permit.
The auction was conducted at the Port of Manila on Tuesday, where a total of 40 bidders participated.
A total of 800,000 kilograms (kg) of glutinous (malagkit) rice and 4,675,000 kg of white rice in eight lots were sold to the seven highest bidders during the public auction held at the Port of Manila.
Santa Rosa Farm won two lots, while Universal Pacific Food Corp., LOM Marketing, Marulau Trading, 1st Asia Agri Industrial Corp., Veramar Rice Mill and Evergreen Cereal Inc. each won a lot.
The glutinous rice was sold at an average price of P49 per kg, while the white rice was sold as an average of P26 per kg.
The rice shipment was consigned to Silent Royalty Marketing and Bold Bidder Marketing and General Merchandise.
The shipments, which arrived from November to December 2013, were seized by customs authorities for lack of required import permits from the National Food Authority (NFA).
Customs Commissioner John Sevilla said the proceeds from the auction will be held in trust by the BOC as the shipment is still the subject of ongoing cases.
Last week the bureau filed smuggling-related cases against the representative and customs brokers of Bold Bidder for the firm’s illegal importation of rice without any import permits from the NFA.
Bold Bidder imported over 12,800 metric tons of rice with market value of about P512 million, entering the country through Manila and Cebu from August to November 2013.
Three of the lots auctioned are part of the seized rice from Bold Bidder.
“We are pleased with the results of the auction, which not only raised additional revenues for the bureau but also helped declog 245 container vans from the Port of Manila. We are committed to expediting the disposition of forfeited shipments in the coming months,” Acting District Collector of the BOC-Port of Manila Mario Mendoza said. Meanwhile, the BOC also announced that the Manila International Container Port Collection District will also auction off 36,400 sacks of white rice on October 17. The rice scheduled to be auctioned consists of 70 container vans of white rice imported by Jade Bros. Farm and Livestock.
The shipment was seized upon arrival in the country also due to lack of import permit from the NFA.
The shipment was originally part of the lots that was lined up for auction on September 11 but was canceled after the Court of Tax Appeals issued a temporary restraining order (TRO).
The BOC said the auction cannot proceed since the TRO has already lapsed.
The agency is expected to earn P47.028 million from the auction of the shipment. It added that it is also expected to help decongest the Manila International Container Terminal.