BOC seen to chalk biggest smuggling haul this year
Q1 seizures already hit P19 billion mark; nearly same as 2019 haul
THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) this early is seen to chalk the highest record in the government’s campaign against smuggling by year’s end after apprehending smuggled goods valued at more than P19.22 billion in the first quarter of 2023 under the leadership of Commissioner Bienvenido Rubio.
Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence Juvymax Uy, in his report to Rubio, said comprising the bulk of the apprehension are fake or counterfeit products valued at P13.924 billion followed by agricultural products at more than P2.552 billion.
Third in the list of apprehended goods are cigarettes and tobacco products valued at P1.7498 billion and, illegal drugs, P849 million.
The seized goods resulted from 123 Alert Orders (AOs) issued against suspected shipments by local district port collectors as well as 19 Letters of Authority (LOAs) approved by the customs chief and served against various warehouses, storage facilities, and stores with derogatory reports.
The first quarter accomplishment is just over P1 billion short of the P20.585 billion worth of smuggled goods confiscated in the whole of 2019.
In 2020, the BOC’s anti-smuggling campaign was dampened by the nationwide lockdown and drastic slowdown in business activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic but where it still managed to seize some P9.5 billion worth of smuggled products.
The next year of 2021, however, the BOC recorded the value of its seizures at more than P28 billion, the highest record thus far. In 2022, smuggled goods worth more than P24 billion was recorded by the agency.
The first quarter anti-smuggling accomplishment of the BOC also complemented its impressive collection performance for the same period where it registered a surplus of P16.6 billion equivalent to 8.43 percent positive deviation from its assigned target of 197.020 billion.
NBI goes ‘Lone Ranger,’ raids San Juan shopping mall
Meanwhile, in what many observers saw as a “breach of protocol,” the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is back in its old habit of conducting its own anti-smuggling operation after raiding several establishments at the Greenhills Shopping Complex in San Juan City where it announced the confiscation of “counterfeit luxury items” worth more than P223 million.
Reacting to the latest incident, the BOC said it would seek a dialogue with the NBI to discuss and coordinate their anti-smuggling operations.
The NBI’s press statement bared that instead of asking BOC Commissioner Rubio to issue a ‘LOA’ (Letter of Authority) to legalize its operation, the NBI preferred to apply for a search warrant at a local court in Manila.
The press statement further said that among the items seized from six different stalls were “fake bags, footwears, jewelry and watches” carrying the names of famous brands such as Chanel, Hermes and Rolex.
Also quoted in the press release was a statement from the Intellectual Property Office (IPOPHIL), an attached agency of the Department of Trade and Industry.
The IPOPHIL added the shopping mall has been flagged by the US Trade Representative as a “notorious market” for counterfeiting and piracy.
During the same period last year, on April 7, 2022, the NBI also conducted a raid in the same shopping mall where fake goods worth more than P63 million was confiscated.
Reacting to the latest incident, the BOC said it would seek a dialogue with the NBI to discuss and coordinate their anti-smuggling operations.
The campaign against all forms of smuggling is among the principal mandates of the BOC.
