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‘Smugglers at BoC fund kill oust-Gloria move’

By Conrado Ching

12/03/2008

Big-time smugglers appear to be the major sources of funds reportedly to buy off some members of the House of Representatives to kill the latest impeachment complaint against President Arroyo, some “major players” at the Bureau ot Customs (BoC) said yesterday.

They cited in particular a female importer operating at the Manila International Container Port (MICP) at North Harbor, who ships into the country a week at least 150 40-footer container vans of resins from China and employs the so-called “jumping jack” modus operandi to evade payment of correct taxes and duties.

The trick, according to those in the know who were edged out of the business by the female importer identified only by her initials as “T” and “Y,” is to assign her shipments of resins to sections other than the one which has exclusive jurisdiction to process the entries of resins and this is described in the smuggling word as “jumping jack.”

Resins, if they are for local consumption, carry a 12 percent duty, while those for purposes of re-exporting them into finished products, zero percent.

A 200 percent duty is imposed if the resins in raw materials to be converted into finished products are not re-exported which is always the case rather than an exception.

The questioned female importer name drops the names of persons who are said to be well placed in the corridors of power and, because of this, some Customs people “cooperate” with her illegal operations. She also sees to it that they are properly “rewarded.”

“How can you argue with her (female resin importer) if she would claim as she usually does that she is tasked by a presidential relative to fund the move for a Charter change,” said a low-ranking official at the MICP.

The importer has cornered the importations of resins by using the MICP where some persons assigned to its several sections were reportedly under her payroll which explains the reason why she could illegally operate without question. This is not to mention the fact that she reportedly drops the names of persons well connected at Malacañang.

The BoC, according to sources at the bureau, loses millions of pesos in revenues weekly through the modus operandi employed by the female big-time resin importer as duties and taxes that should have been collected go to fund-raising on Palace-initiated political purposes.