RICE shipments, reaching possibly millions of sacks rotting in various ports in the country, are not smuggled. These included the Pilmico shipments at the CIP. But why are these facing possible seizure by the Bureau of Customs?
Records show that the importers were pre-qualified and given their allotments under the 2016 Minimum Access Volume (MAV) program of the National Food Authority (NFA). They then ordered mostly from Vietnam and Thailand and paid customs duties in advance through the Land Bank of the Philippines.
The NFA already reported that some 639,563.90 metric tons or 92.38 percent of the shipments under the MAV had arrived as of February 28, 2017. The NFA Council granted an extension up to March 31, 2017 based on requests from authorities in Vietnam and Thailand.
The remaining 7.62 percent of 52,776 metric tons, not 250,000 as reported by various media outlets, should have been covered by import permits.
However, NFA administrator Jason Aquino defied the NFA Council order because he already made arrangements for government-to-government transactions for the importation of 250,000 metric tons of rice. He obviously misinformed President Rodrigo Duterte on who wanted to import rice during the harvest season.
Aquino proceeded to advise Customs Commissioner Nick Faeldon to seize shipments that arrived after Feb. 28, 2017, except for those imported from India and Pakistan, because these supposedly did not have import permits. Faeldon’s memo to this effect was dated March 6, 2017.
When Finance Secretary Sonny Dominguez learned of Aquino and Faeldon’s action, he sent a memo to the Bureau of Customs saying the shipments have been extended to March 31, 2017. Because Faeldon was on leave that day, it was OIC and DepCom Gen. Natalio Ecarma III who complied with another memo, dated March 17, 2017 announcing the March 31, 2017 deadline.
Come to think of it, what Aquino did was unjustified and unfair to importers of the remaining MAV allocation. The shipments, if seized, will be forfeited in favor of the government and sent to the DSWD.
The importers will be paying hundreds of thousands on demurrage and storage fees per van while waiting for higher authorities to act. According to the grapevine, a meeting of the NFA Council with President Duterte had been reset again.
District collectors like Cebu Customs Collector Elvira Cruz could only exercise prudence and wait for the outcome of the NFAC meeting with President Duterte.
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PAV Mike Dino blurted out something like “labor mafia” to explain why he lost cases filed by his employees. But he did not mention how the mafia tried to extort money from him and add that he did not give in. That’s how mafias are supposed to carry out their nefarious activities. Ang-ang man sab kon nangwarta ang mafia gikan sa mga mamumuo nga nakulban og kon. Kulang ang script, no?
From where I sit, the workers simply won the cases fair and square against a labor oppressor. @anol_cebu in Twitter