Philippines: Auctioning off smuggled goods violates restrictions rule
At the Senate hearing for the BOC’s proposed 2015 budget, Escudero scrutinized the standard operating procedure for disposing seized smuggled products and asked the agency to reconsider auctioning the goods without getting into any settlement with third parties claiming stakes.
“There is a reason why we have a minimum access volume. There are quantitative restrictions in terms of goods that are coming into the country so that the local supplies and the prices will not be hurt and the farmers will not suffer any losses,” Escudero said.
According to the Philippine Tariff Commission, MAV is “the amount of imports of an agricultural product allowed to be imported into the country at a customs duty lower than the out-quota customs duty."
Escudero explained that the auction of smuggled products such as rice, meat and garlic by the BOC has been going on for quite some time now.
“But if this smuggled rice or any other commodity is auctioned off by Customs anyway, it goes into the market nevertheless. And usually it’s even bought through a third person by the importer himself. Why do you allow it?” he asked members of the Development Budget Coordinating Council, which includes Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima.
According to Purisima, an inter-agency process of consultations is held before a decision is reached on whether to auction off or not seized illegal goods.
If the confiscated products are fit for consumption and would bring in additional revenues for the government, the agency is likely to hold a public sale.
“Now given our situation right now where there are supply constraints, there’s a lot of pressure on us to actually release the goods to the market. Recently, we confiscated or seized garlic. Our decision was to destroy the garlic and Department of Agriculture supported us. But on the other hand, Department of Trade and Industry was adamant because the price of garlic at that time was quite high. And in recognition of that fact, we ended up agreeing to actually auction it, and it’s going to be auctioned,” Purisima said.
According to reports, the BOC already auctioned off 676,350 kilograms of smuggled garlic last August 29, and obtained a total of P4.7 million from the said auctioned goods that were confiscated last June.
However, Escudero reiterated during the hearing that even if there is a clear intention in auctioning the goods, discretion still plays a large role in the issue.
“If you want to raise revenues, you can auction it off to someone who will re-export it, because to begin with, that’s why you seized it,” Escudero said. “We have a law that says they cannot bring in these products into the country. But through the process of auction, the goods are anyway, brought into the country
Source: interaksyon.com