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Oillink
International Corp.’s depot in Mariveles,
Bataan, would have to remain closed after the Bureau of Customs (BOC)
scored a preliminary victory following the Court of Tax
Appeals’ (CTA) lifting of the temporary restraining
order (TRO) that it earlier issued to the petroleum
company.
James
Enriquez, chief of staff of Customs Commissioner
Napoleon Morales, quoting court documents, said the CTA
lifted its mandatory 72-hour TRO against the government
padlocking the depot on August 1, after the petroleum
company filed another case of the same nature at the
Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Bataan.
The CTA
issued the TRO on July 27.
“Oillink
violated the basic process of the law by filing another
case in the Bataan RTC. It’s a clear forum-shopping,”
Enriquez said in a telephone interview on Monday.
As a
result of the CTA’s decision, the RTC in
Bataan on August 1 has also denied the plea of Oillink for a TRO,
which meant its facilities would have to remain closed
while the proceedings are ongoing.
In a
one-page decision, Judge Bartolome Flores said that the
court found “no immediate urgency in its issuance, and
the plaintiff [Oillink] will not suffer grave injustice
and irreplaceable injury during the pendency of the main
action.”
BOC
lawyers will again go to the Bataan RTC on Tuesday for
hearings on the writ for preliminary injunction, wherein
the government will have to present evidence as to why
the court should not issue a restraining order.
On July
26, the BOC sealed the valves of the oil depot and
storage tanks of Oillink in a move to compel the company
to pay P353.5 million, representing the amount that it
allegedly failed to pay, plus penalties for the
shipments that it made in 2004.
The
deficiency assessment is broken down as follows: P132.21
million, representing the total value of the undeclared
shipment, and P221.28 million, representing eight times
the revenue loss as penalties, the BOC said.
Morales
earlier shrugged off warnings of a possible oil shortage
in Metro Manila and said he is in no mood for a
compromise agreement with Oillink, since the company was
caught smuggling.
He also
warned that he would auction off the petroleum products
in the depot to recoup the deficiencies of Oillink.
The BOC,
however, cannot sell it as there is a pending court
case.
Oillink’s depot supplies about 12 percent of the total
requirements of the country, mainly serving the
requirements of more than 500 gasoline stations of small
oil players.
On the
other hand, various companies are renting the storage
services of Oillink, which was also included in the
lockup. The companies are Cebu Pacific Air for jet fuel;
Ginebra San Miguel for alcohol;
Yokohama for diesel; Total Petroleum, Eastern Petroleum, Flying V,
Seaoil and Unioil for fuel oil; and Kajima for the
asphalt needs of the Subic-Clark highway. |
