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Customs sues Escolta-based importer for not paying duties


The Bureau of Customs on Thursday said it filed a smuggling case against as importer for submitting fake documents to evade payment of duties on imported fabrics. Sued before the Department of Justice was Juliana Oriel Octavio, proprietress of Escolta-based Adventure Trading, for not paying the 10% duty on nearly 600 packages of fabrics she imported from Thailand last November. Also charged was Customs broker Geraldine Purog. Instead, Adventure Trading submitted an ASEAN Common Effective Preferential Tariff (ASEAN-CEPT) form for its shipment in support of non-payment of duties, according to the Customs Bureau. On Nov. 10, 2010, a shipment of 593 packages of fabrics with dutiable value of P548,550 was released even without paying duties as it was declared zero-rated based on the ASEAN-CEPT document, Customs Commissioner Angelito Alvarez said. However, the bureau’s Post-Entry Audit Group or PEAG found out that the document was invalid because it did not bear the signature of the issuing authority. “The deliberate submission of spurious documents by Adventure constitutes a clear violation of Section 3602 of the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines which prohibits the filing of any document for the purpose of securing the payment to himself or others of any drawback, allowance or refund of duties" Alvarez said. The crime is punishable by imprisonment of not less than two years but not more than 8 years and a fine equivalent to not less than five times but not more than eight times the landed cost of the contraband, the Customs chief said. The use of fake documents by smuggling syndicates deprive government of much-needed revenues since the China-ASEAN Framework Agreement on Trade in Goods has effectively eliminated tariffs on 90 percent of the products being produced and sold in the expanded free trade area, the bureau said. — VS, GMA News

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