|
THE
Court of Appeals has given the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA)
the go-ahead to hear the petition filed by Pilipinas
Shell Petroleum Corporation seeking to stop the Bureau
of Customs from collecting almost P1billion in customs
duties for the importation of crude oil in 1996.
In an
eight-page decision penned by Associate Justice
Arcangelita Romilla-Lontok, the CA’s First Division
junked the petition filed by the customs bureau seeking
to nullify the January 17, 2003 resolution of the CTA
denying its motion to dismiss the petition filed by
Pilipinas Shell.
The
appellate court did not give credence to the contentions
of the bureau that Shell’s petition should be dismissed
since it was filed before the CTA beyond the 30-day
period allowed by the law.
The CA
noted that the bureau filed the complaint for collection
of the amount on April 25, 2002 before the Manila City
Regional Trial Court; thus, the 30-day period to file
the appeal to the CTA is reckoned on the said date.
Since
May 25 and
May 26, 2002 are a Saturday and Sunday, respectively, then the
filing of the petition for review by Shell on
May 27,
2002, was timely.
The CA
likewise junked the bureau’s argument that the CTA has
no jurisdiction over the petition of Shell since the
complaint for collection of money falls within the
jurisdiction of the civil courts.
Records
showed that before the effectivity of Republic Act 8180,
known as the Downstream Oil Industry Deregulation Act of
1996 on April 16 1996, Pilipinas Shell imported
1,979,674.85 US barrels of Arab light crude oil.
The said
law provides for the reduction of the tariff duty on
imported crude oil from 10 percent to 3 percent.
Shell’s
shipment arrived on April 7, 1996 aboard the vessel M/T
Lanistels. The import entry for the subject shipment was
filed on May 23, 1996, thus, it was subjected to
3-percent duty.
Four
years after the entries were liquidated, Shell received
an assessment from the Batangas Customs District
Collector requiring the payment of P120.1 million,
representing the difference between the amount duties
paid at 3 percent and the amount that should have been
charged at 10 percent. |
