Cebu Customs can open 12 vans of relief goods if Belgian consignee ‘abandons’ shipment

For 12 container vans of relief goods from Belgium to be released without being levied taxes and duties, the shipment can be turned over to the government.

This option was suggested yesterday by Cebu Deputy Customs Collector for Operations Paul Alcazaren to end a five-month impasse.

He said the Bureau of Customs would give more time for the shipper to complete requirements and find a consignee that is accredited by the Dept. of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in order to avail of tax-free exemptions.

“These goods are for the benefit of typhoon Yolanda victims. We want them to be used for that,” he told Cebu Daily News.

He was asked by CDN if the Bureau of Customs would already declare the shipment “abandoned” since the shipper, Belgian national Johan De Pelsmacker, complained that he couldn’t afford to pay Customs dues and taxes for the vans, which arrived in the Cebu International Port last January.

“The consignee can file a declaration that he is abandoning the cargo in favor of the government,” said Alcazaren.

That way, he said, the relief goods are forfeited in favor of the State, and the contents of the vans can be secured by the DSWD which would take care of distributing them to typhoon victims in Ormoc City and Tacloban City, where they were meant to go.

Alcazaren said the BOC would not be the one, though, to initiate action to declare the shipment abandoned since it would appear that the office had an improper interest in the goods.

SOLUTION

It’s up to the recipient or consignee, Belgian national Paul Lamy, who has been following up the shipment, he said.

Rotary International, which was the original consignee, and Belgian representatives in Cebu and Manila have been trying to find a solution to the impasse, which has left the shipment sitting idly in the port for five months.

Cebu businessman Philip Tan, secretary of Rotary International District 3860, said he withdrew as consignee in March and let Lamy, who is based in Manila, take over to avoid further complications for the civic organization.

Tan said there were hard “lessons” learned about handling foreign donations here because the donors in Belgium, represented by De Pelsmacker, did not follow prior advice to use a DSWD-certified relief agency or foundation as a consignee as Rotary International is not licensed by the government for this and can’t receive relief goods on a duty-free basis.

De Pelsmacker’s complaint surfaced in the website Flanders News.be on May 31, where he said “Customs expects me to pay for the goods to enter the country. However, they are asking 1,000 euros per container. I don’t have the cash.”

Flanders News.be is the English language news website of the Flemish public broadcaster VRT.
Cebu Customs officials denied that duties and taxes were being unfairly imposed on the shipment, saying that guidelines for Yolanda aid donations were simplifed with the setting up of a nationwide One-Stop-Shop contained in a Nov. 11, 2013 Customs Memorandum signed by Customs Chief Rufino Biazon.

Belgian representatives did not want to give the donations to the DSWD or the government, one of the options for a duty-free entry.

Tan earlier said the Belgian donors have to “comply with Philippine law” about routing relief aid to a DSWD-accredited charity or relief agency in order to avail of duty-free exemptions. They also have to clarify who will handle related costs of shipping the vans from Cebu port to Ormoc city and Tacloban city.

The costs, he explained, include domestic transport services of P40,000 to P60,000 per container van to be “stripped down and shipped” to Eastern Visayas, stevedore services and warehousing.

Lack of knowledge of Philippine requirements for duty-free importation of humanitarian relief goods and related logistics costs of reaching victims in a calamity area have caused difficulties for several private donor groups abroad.

SMUGGLING RISK

Alcazaren said the Bureau of Customs is also careful about possible misuse of importation of donations by smugglers who take advantage of the situation.

“It really happened during typhoon Ondoy. Some foreign donations like ‘ukay-ukay’ turned out to be smuggled items,” said Charo Logarta Lagamon, information officer of Customs Commissioner John Sevilla.

(Alcazaren, however, said no similar instances of abuse occurred so far in shipments for typhoon Yolanda aid in the Port of Cebu.)’

Lagamon said that in the Port of Manila no shipments of typhoon aid were held up because most donors followed the guideilnes.

Lagamon said the BOC central office in Manila will release this month revised Customs guidelines on the releaseing of imported donated relief goods.

“We need to reiterate the guidelines and finetune them in order to coordinate more with agencies involved,” she told CDN.

“This will help the donoros and consignees speed up the release of donations but we also want to be balanced and consider Philippine law,” she said.

With the rainy season coming, she said the polished guidelines are needed.

“We want to be prepared. What happened during typhoon Yolanda was a lesson about lack of preparation for an unexpected situation,” she said.

The goal of the “One Stop Shop” is to hasten processing and release of importation of donated relief goods so the BOC will release the cargo “within 24 hours from filing of the Entry” to the DSWD or a DSWD-accredited agency.

Requirements of the Customs are a letter of intent to donate the goods, a bill of lading/airway bill, packing list/commercial invoice and other documents.

Article 105 (1) of the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines specifies which groups can receive duty-free donations from abroad and what papers are needed like a deed of donation and deed of acceptance.

“We were very careful with the processing that happened in the ‘One-Stop Shop’ in Cebu,” said Alcazaren.

Alcazaren encouraged donors abroad to check with their embassies or the Philippine Embassy or Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) for the procedures and requirements.

Based on Customs Memorandum Order (8-2013) the One-Stop-Shop will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Members include the DSWD, Department of Health (DOH), Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Energy (DOE), and Department of National Defense (DND).

The DSWD will endorse food and clothing, DOH and the Bureau of Food and Drugs BFAD will oversee medicines and pharmaceutical products, and DA for agricultural products.

DND will endorse rehabilitation equipment while the DOF will certify the duty-free status of a doantion.

Donations of used clothing shall only be consigned to the DSWD.

Otherwise the “ukay-ukay”, which is restricted under Philippine law, will be forfeited and immediately turned over to the DSWD.

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