Airport and Customs officials on Wednesday reminded airline operators of a revived policy requiring all arriving crew and passengers of international flights to fill out declaration form before landing at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
Lawyer Ma. Lourdes Mangaoang, NAIA Customs Deputy Collector for Passenger Service, said based on Customs Modernization and Tariff Act, and Customs Administrative Order 1-2017, all (airline) passengers and crew members must accomplish a Customs Baggage Declaration Form and submit it to a Customs Officer.
“Airline operators have been notified of this requirement and have been requested to distribute the CBDF on board the aircraft before landing,” said Mangaoang.
The airport authority, during the time of then President Benigno Aquino III, stopped implementing the policy and the scanning of baggage, saying the system was one of the causes of passenger congestion at the arrival area, specially during peak hour period.
But now, according to Mangaoang, the bureau is bringing back the measure at the country’s premier gateway “pursuant to CMTA and CAO 1-2017 approved by the Secretary of Department of Finance and Customs Commissioner” to prevent the entry of contraband and other anti-social goods.
“The airlines have been notified many times since last quarter of 2018,” she said.
Mangaoang cited a Customs law provision that “whenever dutiable goods are not declared by any person arriving within the Philippines, such goods shall be seized and the person may obtain release of such goods, if not imported contrary to any law, upon payment of a surcharge equivalent to 30 percent of the landed cost of such goods.”
Mangaoang said her office earlier wrote a letter addressed to Airline Operators Council chairman Edgar Allan Nepomuceno informing them about the reimplementation of the policy beginning July 1.
She also informed the Council about an incident involving “the rude behavior of one of the pilots from PAL (Philippine Airlines) where the said pilot stomped on the meat confiscated by the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) officer.”
The pilot brought the meat from abroad despite the much publicized ban and numerous warnings about the danger of bringing in imported meat and its product such as luncheon meat and other canned goods contaminated with African Swine Fever.
When asked if there was a case filed against the pilot, Mangaoang said “Nope. But he was reprimanded by PAL management.”
Just recently, a Chinese traveler paid P61 million after he was caught bringing in various jewelry and gemstones.
Kwun Yi Tsoi paid the tax after his undeclared items was detected by a Customs examiner in his luggage and in the suitcases of his six companions who arrived at the NAIA Terminal 3 from Hong Kong.