BOC official wants mandatory X-ray on balikbayan boxes

All balikbayan boxes arriving in the country should undergo mandatory X-ray inspections. That is what Deputy Commissioner Horacio Suansing of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) would be recommending to Customs Commissioner Angelito Alvarez. Under the present procedure, balikbayan boxes are not required to pass through X-ray machine inspection unless there has been an alert on the shipment. Suansing’s proposal cropped up when businessman Lynard Allan Bigcas admitted during a House of Representatives hearing that some of his motorcycles were disassembled or “chop-chop" abroad then shipped in balikbayan boxes to Philippines. The deputy customs commissioner said Bigcas still has to pay the appropriate duties and taxes on the “chop-chop" vehicles. Suansing said the Law Division of the BOC-District Cagayan de Oro will summon Bigcas to explain his importation of the luxury vehicles, motorcycles and spare parts. It was reported that President Benigno Aquino III himself is looking into the BOC after the agency’s failure to detect the shipment of 25 luxury cars and motorcycles Bigcas allegedly smuggled into the country. Commissioner Alvarez is out of the country and could not be reached for comment. — MRT/VS, GMA News