P97 MILLION CONTRABANDS SEIZED LAST WEEK
Auction seen to boost government revenue further
THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) last week seized contrabands consisting of cigarettes, illegal drugs and expensive wristwatches totaling more than P97 million.
The biggest seizure was accomplished on July 1, 2020 by the Port of Subic under Coll. Marites Martin when the port foiled a smuggling attempt of assorted brands of cigarettes worth more than P93 million described as “LED lights” in the shipping manifest.
Martin, in a talk with Pinoy Exposé, said they were already on heightened vigilance after being alerted by deputy commissioner for intelligence, Raniel Ramiro, on the possibility of cigarettes being illicitly brought into the port.
Earlier in the week, at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) collection district, two separate attempts to smuggle in illegal drugs and expensive wristwatches were also successfully foiled by the authorities.
In a report to Comm. Rey Leonardo Guerrero, both apprehensions occurred on June 29, when ecstasy and marijuana worth more than P2 million from Europe were discovered at the Central Mail Exchange in Pasay City.
On the other hand, the wristwatches and other expensive items declared as “personal effects” from the United States, were also confiscated on the same day.
The shipment, valued at more than P1.1 million, was declared as “personal effects” but was found to be of “commercial quantity” on actual examination.
Meanwhile, the BOC expects to further improve its revenue generation efforts with the success of previous auctions of seized and abandoned cargoes and the scheduling of new auctions starting this month.
Thus far, the bureau said that the series of auctions at the Port of Manila and the Manila International Container Port from January to June had already resulted to additional revenues totaling more than P326 million.
Thru auction, the MICP contributed P267 million from the disposal of 436 containers of seized rice and other commodities; the POM added P58.5 million involving 79 containers.
Another auction at the POM involving 33 containers is expected to generate an additional P27.5 million while an auction at the Port of Cebu expected this week and involving 110 containers is also expected to generate an additional P14.5 million.
