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THE
Department of Justice (DOJ) has reiterated the legal
opinion issued in 2002 requiring the Bureau of Customs (BOC)
to get the concurrence of the finance secretary before
entering into any compromise agreement in civil cases
for collection of taxes and duties.
In Legal
Opinion 16, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez told Customs
Commissioner Napoleon Morales that “the supervision and
control over judicial proceedings given to the customs
commissioner does not extend to modifying final
decisions of the court, in the sense that he may accept
on behalf of the government anything different or less
than what is awarded in the decision.”
Morales
earlier sought the DOJ’s legal opinion on the issues of
whether the commissioner of the BOC may validly accept a
compromise payment in a judicial proceeding involving an
amount less than the basic duties being assessed and
collected, and whether such acceptance may be validly
made even without the approval of the finance secretary.
The
issues, according to Morales, were relevant in the case
of Golden Dragon Apparel Inc. (GDAI), which has filed a
request seeking that it be allowed to pay, by way of
compromise, 10 percent of its alleged P33.93-million
obligation to the BOC arising from duties to be paid on
40 warehousing entries.
GDAI
cited financial difficulties which led to the cessation
of its operation in 2006 and incapability to pay the
whole amount being collected as reasons for its request.
At the
outset, Gonzalez noted that the issues raised by the BOC
pertain to the primary jurisdiction of the DOF, which is
mandated by law to be “primary responsible for the sound
and efficient management of the financial resources of
the government and its agencies.
However,
for the BOC’s guidance, Gonzalez said Section 2316 of
the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines provides
that the custom commissioner may compromise any case
arising from the code and other laws enforced by the
BOC involving imposition of fines, surcharges and
forfeitures, subject of the approval of the secretary of
Finance.
“The
jurisdiction of custom officials over administrative
cases involving seizures, appraisals, forfeiture and
fines imposed, with appeal of their decisions to the
courts, and the final judgment of said courts;
thereafter, the remaining functions of said officials is
to carry out the terms of said final court decisions,
and in so doing, naturally guarding and protecting the
interests of the government they represent,” the DOJ
chief said. |
