Customs files smuggling complaints vs. businessmen, brokers

The Bureau of Custom (BOC) on Thursday filed smuggling  charges against two businessmen and their brokers for sneaking in almost P37-million worth of imported firecrackers and frozen meat late last year.   Customs commissioner Ruffy Biazon named the traders as Edward Claudio, owner of FEC Trading, and Ernesto Libunao, owner of Shamoroal Enterprises. Biazon also identified their brokers as Advenzur Ubas and Gretchen Echinique.   They were charged before the Department of Justice for violating Sections 2503 and 2530 of the Tariffs and Customs Code of the Philippines.   Biazon said Libunao and his broker tried to smuggle into the country P25 million worth of firecrackers and P1.283 million worth of chicken leg quarters.   Claudio and his broker meanwhile were charged for trying to bring in P10.6 million worth of smuggled firecrackers, he added.   The shipments arrived at the Port of Manila in the last three months of 2011, and were seized by the Customs Bureau's Intelligence Group under Deputy Commissioner Danilo Lim, Biazon noted.   The smuggled goods were not only undervalued but were also misdeclared, the Customs chief said.   "We will never allow unscrupulous traders to get away with their illegal transactions at the Bureau of Customs. We will see to it that the maximum penalties of the law are imposed on all violators of Customs laws," Biazon said.   The latest charges brought to 10 the number of cased filed under the "Run-After-The-Smugglers" (RATS) program Biazon initiated last September, the commissioner noted, adding that the bureau was able to meet President Benigno Aquino III's directive to file at least two cases a month against tariffs and customs code violators.     RATS officer-in-charge Deputy Commissioner Peter Manzano said lawyers will continue their training on the latest trends and developments in Customs.   "In compliance with the Commissioner's order for us to get convictions, we are developing strategies to tighten our cases against suspected smugglers," Manzano said. — VS, GMA News