AS sugar prices remained high and while there is an ongoing inventory of stocks, the government started raiding customs bonded warehouses (CBWs) that the Bureau of Customs (BOC) suspect are hoarding the commodity.
Last Thursday, the BOC announced its operatives raided separate warehouses in Pampanga and Bulacan wherein they seized a combined total of 44,000 sacks of imported sugar estimated to be worth P220 million.
Executive Secretary Victor D. Rodriguez said they began raiding these warehouses upon the order President and concurrent Agriculture Secretary Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. Rodriguez said BOC personnel would also visit other CBWs to check on the inventory of imported agricultural products with the aim of finding out if there is hoarding of sugar.
A CBW, to note, “is a warehouse facility duly authorized to receive and store general cargoes for exportation, transfer to another CBW, free zones or for local consumption, in the same state when the cargoes were imported.”
The BOC said personnel of its Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service (CIIS) and Enforcement and Security Service of the Port of Clark (Customs District XIV) and Port of Manila (Customs District II-A), along with the military, swooped down on the New San Fernando Public Market in San Fernando, Pampanga and beside Taruwe’s Lugawan, Tapsihan Atbp., along Kaypian Road, in Jose del Monte, Bulacan.
According to a statement released by Malacañang, suspected hoarded sacks of imported sugar from Thailand were found neatly stockpiled in the Pampanga warehouse while hundreds of sacks of sugar were found loaded inside delivery vans.
“The BoC’s Pampanga sugar warehouse raid may very well serve as a warning to unscrupulous traders who are currently hoarding their stocks of sugar in order to profit from the current artificial sugar shortage situation,” Rodriguez was quoted in a statement as saying.
Corn starch
APART from the imported sugar from Thailand, Customs agents also found in the said warehouse several imported items, such as sacks of corn starch from China, sacks of imported flour, plastic products, oil in plastic barrels, motorcycle parts and wheels of different brands, helmets, LED Televisions sets and paints.
A Chinese-Filipino warehouse keeper identified as Jimmy Ng received a copy of the Letter of Authority and the Mission Order from the Customs agents, read a statement that the Office of the Press Secretary issued August 18.
Currently, the CIIS is undertaking an inventory of said products and gave the warehouse owners 15 days to present necessary documents to prove that the items were legally imported into the country.
If proven that the sacks of sugar from Thailand were smuggled, the warehouse owners may face charges of smuggling in relation to the provisions of The Customs Modernization Act (CMTA).
Meanwhile, a certain Victor Teng Chua, the alleged owner of the warehouse in Bulacan, was brought to the San Jose del Monte Police Station for questioning due to a lack of permit from the Sugar Regulatory Administration. Authorities are also verifying the possibility of large-scale hoarding of sugar by the owner of the warehouse.
SRA inventory
The raid comes during the period allotted for an inventory by the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA), based on the Circular Letter (CL) 32 issued by then SRA Officer-In-Charge Hermenegildo R. Serafica. (See https://businessmirror.com.ph/2022/08/01/sra-to-conduct-inventory-of-local-sugar-stocks/)
SRA’s CL 32 outlined the guidelines for the physical inventory of sugar stock, molasses and quedan permits. The inventory would be conducted in all operating sugar mills and refineries nationwide as part of the SRA’s efforts of assessing the country’s sugar production in crop year (CY) 2021-2022.
The physical inventory inspection will be conducted from August 15 to 20, a few weeks before the start of CY 2022-2023 on September 1.
Under the guidelines, the SRA will hire a private surveyor that would conduct the physical sugar and molasses inventory in the presence of an inventory team (IT).
“For sugar mills, each IT shall be composed of the authorized representative of the mill company, platners’ associations/cooperatives/federations and the authorized SRA representative as team leader,” CL 32 read.
“As for sugar refineries, each IT shall be composed of the authorized representative of the sugar refinery and the authorized SRA representative as Team leader,” it added.
Under the guidelines, the SRA will hire a private surveyor that would conduct the physical sugar and molasses inventory in the presence of an inventory team.
More ‘inspections’
IN a separate news briefing on Thursday, Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles said it is also possible that more “inspections” on the warehouses will be done in the coming days.
Last week, Customs Commissioner Yogi Filemon Ruiz reported that the bureau has so far seized P701.82-million worth of agricultural products from January to August 7 this year.
The bureau also filed 25 criminal cases before the Department of Justice (DOJ) against 71 importers, exporters and customs brokers for the unlawful importation and exportation of agricultural products with a total dutiable value of P186.98 million and total duties and taxes amounting to P76 million.
Ruiz also said last week the BOC would conduct a formal investigation once the agency gets a copy of the Senate Committee of the Whole report that identified Ruiz’s predecessor, former Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo B. Guerrero and 21 other government officials as alleged protectors and smugglers of agricultural products. (See https://businessmirror.com.ph/2022/08/10/boc-vows-to-probe-officials-linked-to-agri-smuggling/)
Guerrero strongly denied the accusations.
Officials from the BOC, Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Bureau of Plant and Industry were among those included in the list.
“Once I get a copy of the official report, yes, we will investigate,” Ruiz told reporters in a news conference.
“Di namin to pinapabayaan,” he added. [We’re not neglecting this.] “I promised to the President that we will curb agricultural smuggling.”
Should anyone be found liable for agricultural smuggling, the Customs chief said they could only recommend that the DOJ file charges against these officials.