House to probe BOC release of 105 containers

A House of Representatives committee is looking into reports that 105 shipping containers slipped past Manila South Harbor’s port operator Asian Terminal Inc. after the Bureau of Customs (BOC) issued “manual” and not electronic alert orders.

“We would like to know why they issued alert orders manually. Why did they resort to manual? Because of this, the image of the Office of the Commissioner was tainted,” Quirino Rep. Dakila Cua, chairman of the committee on ways and means, said in a recent hearing.

The probe conducted by committee is an offshoot of House Resolution 1824 that Sultan Kudarat Rep. Horacio Suansing Jr. filed, questioning the manual alerts issued from January to March this year.

Suansing was joined by Surigao del Sur Rep. Prospero Pichay, who rejected BOC Deputy Commissioner Noel Prudente’s justification.

Prudente explained during the hearing that the alert orders were issued manually primarily because “the response to lodging of entry was slow,” pointing out that the BOC processes an average of 6,000 entries daily.

BOC Commissioner Isidro Lapeña said most of the 105 containers covered by the alert orders were released by ATI without any directive from BOC lifting the alert orders.

Lapeña said the containers’ contents must be examined before they are released. He alleged that the consignees, brokers and ATI “all connived to secure the release of the containers from ATI premises without the necessary examination.”

According to Suansing, while the duties and taxes of the 105 containers have been paid, the BOC believes the declared contents were grossly undervalued. The duties and taxes for the containers reached more than P69 million.