The row of container vans housing thousands of sacks of smuggled rice that were seized by the Bureau of Customs in Cebu.
(CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON)
The Bureau of Customs (BOC) will auction 120 container vans of rice on the second week of December.
Kenneth Sesante, chief of staff of the BOC Port of Cebu, said the 120 container vans were part of the 400 to 500 container vans of imported rice that were seized at the Cebu International Port (CIP) between September to October last year.
“The consignees have no permits from the National Food Authority (NFA). It’s under the law that an import permit from NFA is a requirement for rice importations,” he said.
The identified consignees are Starcraft International Trading Corp and Silent Royal Marketing. The imported rice came from Thailand and Vietnam.
Sesante said they are conducting an inventory to identify the specific number of sacks from the 120 container vans and determine their floor price and commercial value.
“We also assured that the inventory is secure, in the light of the pilferage that happened before,” he added.
BOC will also coordinate with NFA to check if the rice is still safe for consumption.
Sesante said some sacks were damaged but declined to elaborate.
The owner and the five customs brokers of Silent Royal Marketing are facing smuggling related charges that the BOC filed before the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Respondents are Mario Mendoza, the owner, and customs brokers Francis Rudolfh Forneste, Kenneth Quial, Elbert Lusterio, Denise Kathryn Rosaroso and John Kevin Cisneros.
Quial, Rosaroso and Cisneros are Cebuanos, according to the BOC.
Mendoza faces 49 counts of violating Section 3601 of the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines (TCCP).
He also faces another 49 counts of violating Section 29 of Presidential Decree (PD) Number 4, as amended by P.D. No. 1485, which states that only the NFA can import rice and private entities must secure a permit from the agency.
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