THE Bureau of Customs said Asian Terminals Inc. failed to observe the proper protocol in the release of 105 imported shipments, despite an alert order issued by Commissioner Isidro Lapeña four days before the P69 million worth of goods slipped out of the Manila terminal.
In a statement, the BoC said the commissioner issued a Manual Alert Order on March 13, contrary to the claim of ATI that the agency issued a release instruction through the Online Release System.
“While the duties and taxes of the 105 containers have been paid, they were found to have violated Section 1400 or the misdeclaration, misclassification, and undervaluation in goods declaration, of the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act,” the statement said.
The bureau also noted that before the release of alerted shipments, there must be a memo on the lifting of alert order approved by the Office of the Commissioner, and a memo lifting the alert order.
Port of Manila district collector Vener Baquiran said the BoC is still identifying the exact value of the shipments as they may have contained even more misdeclared commodities.
Lapeña said the accreditation of importers involved in bringing in the 105 containers has already been revoked. These include Abundancegain Indent Trading Corp., Imperial Foods and Agricultural Products, Mega Abundance Steel Indent Trading Corp., Paragon Platinum International, Premiere Oak Lumber and Wood Products, and Spectrum Highlands Marketing Corp.
At least 85 of the containers were recovered in Bulacan, the BoC said.