BUREAU of Customs (BOC) Port of Cebu District Collector Elvira Cruz has endorsed the case about the illegal shipment of garbage from South Korea to Cebu to their legal office in Manila.
She said it’s up to the BOC lawyers what to do against those behind the shipment.
Cruz then made clear that she already ordered to send some of the illegal shipment back to South Korea through MV Cristina, an international vessel.
The shipment arrived in Cebu from South Korea before Cruz assumed office as district collector in Cebu.
Some of the trash were stored in a warehouse in Mandaue City, but Cruz said BOC released these to the Mandaue City Government since there were no takers during the public auction they conducted twice early this year.
When she learned that the shipment was illegal, Cruz said she immediately issued a warrant of seizure and detention against it and forfeited it in favor of the government.
“We are not tolerating illegal activities in our jurisdiction,” she said.
Cruz then said that the Mandaue City Government has filed charges against the customs broker, consignee and other persons involved in the shipment.
The case is still pending in court.
Despite that, Cruz said that the City’s case will not prejudice the actions that the BOC legal division will take.
“I am apolitical. I just want them (critics) to stop saying lies to the public against me. These are the very people who wanted my position,” she added. (EOB)