While he could have availed of the birthday leave privilege granted to government officials, Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon preferred to spend his natal day, instead, presenting to media the results of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) intensified monitoring of cargoes by his Intelligence Division (BOC-ID) operatives led by ID Assistant Chief and Head Special Operations Eric Albano, when it caused the seizure of illegally imported used Porsche Boxter S worth Php4.5 million, used clothing worth Php3.3 million and Php1.5 million worth of PVC products.
According to Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon, the importation of used vehicles is prohibited under Executive Order No. 156, just like used clothing, which is also banned by virtue of Republic Act No. 4653.
“The banning of importation of used clothing and vehicles are primarily to protect the Filipinos from the health risks posed by allowing the entry of used clothing into the local market and to protect our local auto industry as well,” Biazon said.
“We shall strictly implement these laws, with no let up, if only to assure the safety of the Filipinos and to protect the local business community,” the Commissioner added.
The Porsche Boxter S which was consigned to Forerunner Multi-Resources Inc., arrived last December 2011 in a 20 footer container van from China and was issued an Alert Order for violation of EO 156. On the other hand, the 1×40 container van of used clothing from Japan that was consigned to J.S. Wakayama and another shipment of used clothing, also from Japan, that was consigned to MGM Industry Co., arrived sometime December 2011 and January 2012, respectively, were both issued Alert Orders for violation of Republic Act 4653. While RMG 99 Trading’s shipment of PVC products, arrived on August 2011 from China were seized after the BOC intelligence operatives discovered that said trading firm is a fictitious company.
Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence Group Danilo Lim, for his part said, the recent re-alignments in the Bureau has enhanced his unit’s operating capabilities like the transfer of ICARE, which used to be under the Revenue Collection and Monitoring Group (RCMG) to IG.
“The recent transfer of the Interim Customs Accreditation and Registration Unit (ICARE) to the Intelligence Group (IG) has given us a wider operational latitude as we are now able to profile suspicious brokers and importers,” Lim said.
On the other hand, Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service (CIIS) Director Dino Tuason, complemented Lim’s observation saying that, the reforms now happening at the BOC, will eventually result in higher revenue collections for the bureau.
