‘BATAS’ hauls three consignees to court
THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) on Friday, July 10, 2020, filed criminal charges against three consignees for smuggling and violation of related laws before the Department of Justice.
Deputy commissioner for revenue collection and monitoring (RCMG) Atty. Vener Baquiran, who has supervision over the ‘BOC Action Team Against Smugglers’ (BATAS), identified the erring consignees as, ‘Titan Marketing and Development Corp.;’ ‘Fivebeast Trading;’ and, ‘FGM-RS-CO.’
In the first case, Titan Marketing was found to have imported frozen meat products “deemed unfit for human consumption.”
It is facing charges for violation of Section 1401 of RA 10863 (Customs Modernization and Tariff Act) and three provisions of RA 10611 or the ‘Food Safety Act of 2013.’
In the case of Fivebeast Trading, it was found to have not only violated the CMTA but also, Article 172 (falsification of documents) of the Revised Penal Code (RPC) after it declared its shipment of galvanized steel flexible conduit as “plastic fittings” to avoid payment of higher duties and taxes.
A similar case for falsification of documents and misdeclaration was filed against FGM for declaring its shipment of galvanized steel coil as “hot rolled steel coil.”
Baquiran again cautioned waterfront stakeholders from resorting to unscrupulous methods in an effort to cheat the government of its legal revenues. “You would be caught and would be charged accordingly,” the official said.
