P3-B Subic oil smuggling uncovered
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—The Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group (PASG) has started flexing its muscles to stop oil smuggling at the Subic Bay Freeport.
Undersecretary Antonio Villar Jr., PASG head, said a case for economic sabotage, violations of customs and tariff code, and falsification of documents has been readied against a company that has failed to liquidate at least 138 million liters of oil, worth P3 billion, from out of the Subic freeport in the last six months.
Villar said the case against the firm Tri-Solid will be filed any time this week.
“We are just awaiting some documents,” he told the Inquirer in a telephone interview on Tuesday.
“The fact that it cannot liquidate (or make a proper accounting of its stock) means that it sold its supply outside [the freeport],” Villar said.
Like three other oil importing companies based in the Subic freeport, Tri-Solid’s supply should only be sold to and consumed by companies doing business there, he said.
Rampant smuggling
An official of the Tri-Solid did not answer Inquirer’s calls and text messages on Tuesday.
The legal action against Tri-Solid came after Villar’s meeting with Finance Secretary Margarito Teves, Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla, Subic-Clark Alliance Development Council Chair Edgardo Pamintuan and Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority Administrator Armand Arreza on Monday night.
Villar described the smuggling of oil in Subic as rampant. On the average, he added, about 60 truckloads of oil were being smuggled almost daily.
To stop this irregularity, Villar ordered the establishment of checkpoints at all gates of the freeport and the deployment there of PASG personnel and policemen from the Central Luzon police office starting Tuesday.
Arreza is coordinating those efforts at the SBMA level, he said.
Inquirer sources said a top SBMA official has lifted the suspension order on Tri-Solid. An official of the Bureau of Customs at Subic has not also been removed despite the oil smuggling.
No sacred cows
Villar said the instruction of President Macapagal-Arroyo was to “leave no sacred cows” in the renewed anti-smuggling campaign.
Smuggling, he said, should be stopped because it destroys the economy.
“It is one of the reasons for the shortfall in government revenues,” he said.
Villar said the PASG has also confirmed the smuggling of vehicles in Subic, Cebu and other parts of the country on the complaints of car manufacturers Toyota and Ford.
In Cebu, the anti-smuggling effort was being met with quiet protests by importers and customs brokers.
The importers and customs brokers allegedly made the protest after the PASG withheld the release of some cargo suspected to be smuggled. PASG reportedly issued alert orders on legitimate shipments, which embarrassed the owners.
However, BOC-Cebu collection division chief Conrado Abarintos said he could neither confirm nor deny the reports. By Tonette Orejas - Inquirer - With a report from Jhunnex Napallacan, Inquirer Visayas
Undersecretary Antonio Villar Jr., PASG head, said a case for economic sabotage, violations of customs and tariff code, and falsification of documents has been readied against a company that has failed to liquidate at least 138 million liters of oil, worth P3 billion, from out of the Subic freeport in the last six months.
Villar said the case against the firm Tri-Solid will be filed any time this week.
“We are just awaiting some documents,” he told the Inquirer in a telephone interview on Tuesday.
“The fact that it cannot liquidate (or make a proper accounting of its stock) means that it sold its supply outside [the freeport],” Villar said.
Like three other oil importing companies based in the Subic freeport, Tri-Solid’s supply should only be sold to and consumed by companies doing business there, he said.
Rampant smuggling
An official of the Tri-Solid did not answer Inquirer’s calls and text messages on Tuesday.
The legal action against Tri-Solid came after Villar’s meeting with Finance Secretary Margarito Teves, Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla, Subic-Clark Alliance Development Council Chair Edgardo Pamintuan and Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority Administrator Armand Arreza on Monday night.
Villar described the smuggling of oil in Subic as rampant. On the average, he added, about 60 truckloads of oil were being smuggled almost daily.
To stop this irregularity, Villar ordered the establishment of checkpoints at all gates of the freeport and the deployment there of PASG personnel and policemen from the Central Luzon police office starting Tuesday.
Arreza is coordinating those efforts at the SBMA level, he said.
Inquirer sources said a top SBMA official has lifted the suspension order on Tri-Solid. An official of the Bureau of Customs at Subic has not also been removed despite the oil smuggling.
No sacred cows
Villar said the instruction of President Macapagal-Arroyo was to “leave no sacred cows” in the renewed anti-smuggling campaign.
Smuggling, he said, should be stopped because it destroys the economy.
“It is one of the reasons for the shortfall in government revenues,” he said.
Villar said the PASG has also confirmed the smuggling of vehicles in Subic, Cebu and other parts of the country on the complaints of car manufacturers Toyota and Ford.
In Cebu, the anti-smuggling effort was being met with quiet protests by importers and customs brokers.
The importers and customs brokers allegedly made the protest after the PASG withheld the release of some cargo suspected to be smuggled. PASG reportedly issued alert orders on legitimate shipments, which embarrassed the owners.
However, BOC-Cebu collection division chief Conrado Abarintos said he could neither confirm nor deny the reports. By Tonette Orejas - Inquirer - With a report from Jhunnex Napallacan, Inquirer Visayas
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