Friday, April 04, 2008 'Hoarding legally': raid tells how it can be done
WAS the rice in the warehouse the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) raided in Mandaue City last Wednesday night being hoarded?
There is no indication that such was the case, admitted NBI 7 Regional Director Medardo de Lemos in an interview yesterday.
But, then again, the raid on warehouse 52 of the Mandaue North Central Compound in Cabancalan, Mandaue City wasn’t about storing grains in the middle of a reported rice shortage.
It was, the NBI director said, “an operation against a warehouse allegedly conducting rice storage activities without a permit from the NFA (National Food Authority) and a violation of Presidential Decree 4.”
The incident shows how a shipment of rice may be stored for a period of time and released, conveniently enough, after rice prices have risen—without necessarily being held liable for “hoarding.”
The elements necessary are an alert order from the office of the customs commissioner and an order allowing the transfer under-guard of the shipment from the port of entry into an out-of-the-way warehouse.
The first is easy to get because, District Collector Ricardo Belmonte confirmed yesterday, the Office of the Commissioner of Customs made it a point to issue alert orders on all rice importations ever since news of an impending rice crisis came out.
Transfer
The transfer is likewise easy to facilitate. Belmonte also confirmed during the interview that the Bureau of Customs does not have its own facility to conduct inventories without risking damage to the shipment, because of the elements.
Many big-time buyers of imported rice own or lease their warehouses. They can request that they be allowed to transport their shipment under guard from the port to their warehouse where an assigned customs examiner can perform his job conveniently.
The second phase involves deliberately slowing down the process of unloading the shipment from the trailer trucks they are transported in to the warehouse.
This can be done by hiring only 10 men, instead of 35 or more, to unload 70 20-footer container vans, the estimated number of vans needed to move 30,000 sacks of rice.
By dragging out the process of unloading the vans, the inventory is likewise stalled.
When the price in the market is right, manpower is suddenly increased. As a result, the inventory speeds up until completed and clearance to release the rice to the owner can finally be obtained.
Inspection
While this purposeful storing of the shipment entails added expense, the profit margin can be so high as to make it negligible if the conditions are right, a source said.
The estimated 30,000 bags of rice that a businessman pre-bought from 10 farmers’ cooperatives—rice that the cooperatives had the Philippine International Trading Corp. (PITC) buy from Vietnam—arrived in the Port of Cebu sometime during the third week of March yet.
But the shipment could not be released because the Office of the Commissioner of Customs, based in Manila, issued an alert order even after the importer paid all the assessed duties and taxes.
With the alert order issued, the rice could not be released until a “100 percent inspection” could be done, explained Customs Chief of Staff Nicomedic Cariño of the Port of Cebu.
And since the bureau does not have a place to perform the inventory, a place safe from the elements, the Office of the Deputy Commissioner authorized the transport of the shipment to the Mandaue City warehouse that businessman Regan King leased.
Costs
Days after the transfer began, the customs examiner was still not done with the inventory.
The unloading was still going on when the NBI, armed with a search warrant, raided the place Wednesday night.
King, in a separate interview, said they were working as fast as they could.
He stressed that the delay in the release is costing them money and that his transactions depend on the quick disposal of his stocks.
“I sell in bulk,” he said.
Atty. Rico Rey Francis Holganza, in an interview yesterday, confirmed that the unloading of the shipment is yet to be completed, adding that only about 50 containers have been moved.
He said he has asked his people to submit a partial inventory report. He confirmed the delays, adding that at one point there were only three people unloading the vans.
“I told them ahead to get more people,” he said.
Customs
Belmonte said they have to do the inventory if an alert order has been issued against a shipment. That is the procedure.
“Until the inventory is finished, we cannot send the documents to Manila for clearance,” he said.
He refused to comment on whether or not the procedure can be circumvented and result in a legalized form of hoarding instead.
“I will not comment on that. That is their haka-haka (speculation),” he said.
He said the Bureau of Customs is doing the best it can to speed up the inventory of the King shipment, adding that he even called up NBI Regional Director de Lemos to let the inventory continue, even though the agency has the warehouse under its custody.
“All I can say is there was a delay in the unloading of the shipment. Maybe they were not able to see to it ahead because they had other concerns,” Holganza said.
“Simply put, hinay hinay lang gyud sila kumpara sa uban. Then, gamay pud ang ilang napili nga warehouse sa ilang napalit nga bugas,” he said. (The unloading is somewhat slower in their shipment when compared to others. Also, the warehouse they picked is small for the amount of rice they bought). (KNR)
