The Senate committee on agriculture suspects an apparent collusion in what is  believed to be a foiled attempt to smuggle 420,000 bags of rice worth of nearly P500 million into the local market last April after yesterday’s Senate inquiry into the 21,050 metric tons of rice being held by the Bureau of Customs (BoC) at the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) free port.
“Clearly from what they said, there is an attempt to smuggle 420,000 bags of rice into the domestic market. There is conspiracy from  the Indian company and  locator, SBMA,” Sen. Ralph Recto said in media interview after the Senate investigation.
“It is clear that strange things happened when this shipment of rice arrived in our country. There are a lot of unanswered questions, especially from SBMA. Why were they allowed to unload without a permit?” Senate committee on agriculture chairman Francis Pangilinan said.
During the inquiry, Metroeastern Trading Corp. vice president Cesar Bulaon revealed that it was SBMA deputy administrator for investment and business Stefanie Sano who asked Metroeastern to extend help to India-based exporter Amira Food India Limited for the entry of the shipment at the SBMA free port.
“Sano contacted us and asked to help Amira because they need a consignee and a warehouse,” Bulaon told the committee.
Bulaon said he contacted Amira which sent a certain Mr. Protik to transact with him through a broker named Bong Cuevas.
Pangilinan asked all the resource persons if they knew Cuevas but everybody said no. Later, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile informed the panel that Bong Cuevas, whose first name is Vicente, is popular especially among customs officials of the previous administration of President Gloria Arroyo.
“He is well-known personality but we kicked him out of the Fort of Irene in Cagayan,” Enrile said.
Bulaon said Cuevas told them  he would be able to secure an import permit for Amira from the National Food Authority (NFA).
The Metroeastern official also said the rice shipment was originally intended for Indonesia but the country rejected its entry for lack of necessary permits.
NFA administrator Angelito Banayo said no import permit had been issued to Amira because bidding was already finished a month before the shipment arrived on April 4, 2012.
Enrile cast doubt on Bulaon’s claim that the shipment was not intended for the Philippines, issuing a warning to detain the Metroeastern official if he would not tell the truth.
Later, Bulaon’s boss Metroeastern owner Antonio Camacho Jr. admitted that the bill of lading of the rice shipment was from Kandla, India to Subic.
Bulaon also admitted that as consignee, they intended to sell the rice domestically.
Enrile wondered why Amira entrusted to Metroeastern a rice shipment worth half a billion peso without any previous dealing with the Indian export company. Bulaon could not give a convincing answer.
The senators grilled SBMA chairman Roberto Garcia and Sr. Deputy Administrator for Operations Redentor Tuazon for allowing the rice shipment to be unloaded even without import permit from the NFA.
Tuazon said that SBMA charter allowed them to discharge the shipment but “we did not issue admission permit and we did not allow to declare it because their NFA permit is under process.”
Tuazon failed to convince the committee with his explanation, insisting that the SBMA should not allow any shipment to be unloaded without import permit from any concerned government agency.
Upon the request of Enrile, the Senate panel directed the BoC and SBMA not to release the rice shipment while the case is being investigated by the Senate.
BoC commissioner Rufino Biazon said his agency will abide by  the directive of the Senate, saying “the BoC has actually ordered forfeiture of the items.”
Biazon said he was also in favor of the senators’ suggestion to donate the rice to the victims of natural disasters.
The senators vowed to dig deeper on the case, asking Sano, Cuevas, Protik and SBMA seaport manager Capt. Perfecto Pascual to attend the next Senate probe tentatively set on Tuesday next week.
Camacho said he had a pre-arrival meeting with Pascual prior to the arrival of the rice shipment. Pascual did not show up in the first Senate inquiry.
Other senators who attended the hearing include Senators Loren Legarda, Teofisto Guingona III, Franklin Drilon and Edgardo Angara.
In yesterday’s  investigation on smuggling at the Philippine Senate, SBMA officials justified their unloading of 420,000 sacks of rice illegally imported from India by saying that they are allowed to do so according to their rules.
In the House of Representatives, Valenzuela Rep. Magi Gunigundo yesterday filed a measure calling for the House  to conduct an inquiry in aid of legislation, to find out, among others, if the District Collectors of all ports of entry under the BoC are guilty of misfeasance or nonfeasance for failure to apply the appropriate laws which could facilitate the disposal of the abandoned rice importation, particularly the P72 million of rice shipment in Subic.
This, even as he stressed that the government t should pursue an abandonment instead of a seizure proceeding to immediately acquire possession of the rice shipment before it goes to waste.
Gunigundo filed House Resolution 2612 which calls for an inquiry into the BoC’s seizure of 90 twenty-footer container vans loaded with about 45,000 sacks of rice consigned to two different firms, Oriental Trade Link, Inc. and Masagana Import Export Inc.
The rice imporation came from Vietnam and arrived at the Port of Subic on June 13 and 20, 2012.
Both firms are not registered with the Subic bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) and are mere port users.
“The two consignees did not file the necessary customs entry declarations with the BoC from the date of arrival of the shipments and it appears that the District Collectors for the Port of Subic failed to apply Sections 1801, 1802 and 2601 that specifically provide for abandonment and sale of these articles,” said Gunigundo.
“it is imperative to evaluate whether there are other similar shipments in the Port of Subic and in other ports of entry wherein Customs district collectors are not applying the correct procedures, the Valenzuela solon added.
The law on abandonment, Gunigundo said, makes it easier for the BoC to immediately disposed of the rice shipment and transform those into revenues.
“The BoC should prioritize immediate disposal of the rice shipment that are highly perishable,” said Gunigundo.