Trader faces raps over illegal R641- M rice shipments

The Bureau of Customs (BOC) yesterday filed charges before the Department of Justice (DOJ) against a rice trader and nine customs brokers for illegally importing rice valued at R641 million last year.

BOC filed four separate smuggling complaints against Emmanuel Santos, owner of Medaglia De Oro and the firm’s customs brokers identified as Denise Kathryn Rosaroso, Raquel Sildora Cabasag, Emilio Chio, Myrene Noynay Sollano, Gemma Garcia, Melvin Isagan, John Kevin Cisneros, Eduardo Borje III and Kenneth Quial.

They were charged by district collectors Mario Mendoza assigned at the Port of Manila (POM), Roberto Almadin of the Port of Cebu, Ricardo Butalid Jr. of Davao Port and Datu Samson Pacasum of the Mindanao Container Terminal (MCT) in Misamis Oriental.

“If you look at the list of top rice importers in 2013, Medaglia De Oro was number 5. It was one of the largest. It was of those mentioned on the Senate hearing on rice smuggling this year associated with Davidson Bangayan,” BOC Commissioner John P. Sevilla said.

Medaglia De Oro imported 16,039 metric tons of rice without permits from Thailand and Singapore in July and August last year. The rice shipments entered the Ports of Manila, Cebu, Davao and Misamis Oriental.

BOC placed the dutiable value of the firm’s rice imports at R205.2 million.

“These rice (shipments) were not seized and actually left BOC’s five ports. The officials who released these have pending administrative cases or face formal complaints pending before the BOC,” Sevilla said.

“There is an ongoing investiga- tion that would lead to the filing of administrative cases. It was a huge shortcoming for BOC internally in 2013,” he added.

Medaglia De Oro earlier told the National Food Authority (NFA) that private importers can import rice without securing a permit, citing the expiration of quantitative restrictions on rice imports to the Philippines under the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2012.

However, Philippine laws state that only the NFA can import rice, mandating public companies who wish to do the same to secure from the NFA the import permit.

The NFA regulates rice imports through quotas, preventing excessive and unquantifiable amounts of rice, to ensure fair competition and viability of the local rice industry.

But based on records of the NFA, Medaglia De Oro neither applied nor was granted any import permit or allocated import quota during the period.