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THE
Supreme Court has ordered Chevron Philippines Inc.
(formerly Caltex Philippines) to pay the Bureau of
Customs (BOC) the amount of P893.78 million representing
deficiency customs duties for petroleum products it
imported in 1996.
In a
35-page decision penned by Associate Justice Renato
Corona, the Court’s First Division affirmed the ruling
of the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) en banc which held
that Chevron committed fraud when it failed to file
import entry and internal revenue declarations (IERDs)
within the 30-day period required with the intent to
evade payment of higher customs duties.
The CTA
en banc, in a ruling issued on March 1, 2007, declared
that it was the filing of the IEIRDs that constituted
entry under the Tariff and Customs Code (TCC).
Since
the IERDs were not entered within the 30-day period as
required under Section 1301 of the TCC, the CTA said,
they were deemed abandoned in favor of the government
under Sections 1801 and 1802 of the TCC.
However,
the shipments have already been released even before the
BOC learned of the fraud committed by Chevron.
Thus,
the Court said Chevron should be held liable for the
total dutiable value of the shipments of imported crude
oil amounting to P1,210,0280,789 for appropriating for
itself properties which already belonged to the
government.
Deducting the duties it earlier paid amounting to
P316,449,021, Chevron now has a balance of
P893,781,768.21.
The
Court did not give credence to Chevron’s claim that its
failure to comply with the 30-day period was intended to
evade the payment of the 10-percent rate of duty on
imported crude oil.
The oil
company explained that the delayed filing of IERDs was
caused by the late arrival of the original copies of the
bills of lading and commercial invoices that its
suppliers could send only after the latter computed the
average monthly price of crude oil based on worldwide
trading.
However,
the SC stressed that based on the evidence, Chevron
delayed filing the IEIRDs so as to avail itself of a
lower rate of duty.
Records
showed that the imported products composed of 66,229,960
liters of Nan Hai crude oil; 6,990,712 liters reformate;
16,651,177 liters of FCCU feed stock; 236,317,862 liters
of Oman-Dubai crude oil and 51,878,114 liters of Arab
crude oil arrived in the country in March and April
1996.
Chevron
filed its IED between March 12 to April 10, 1996, while
the IEIRDs were filed between May 10 to June 21, 1996.
It noted
that at the time importation was made, the bill lowering
the duty on imported oil products from 10 percent to 3
percent was already under intense discussion in
Congress.
Under
Republic Act 8180, or the Downstream Oil Industry
Deregulation Act of 1996, the duty rate on importations
of oil products is 3 percent. Prior to the effectivity
of RA 8180 on April 16, 1996, the rate of duty on
imported crude oil was 10 percent.
“There
was a calculated and preconceived course of action
adopted by petitioner purposely to evade the payment of
the correct custom duties then prevailing,” the SC said.
Chevron,
according to the SC, executed the fraud in collusion
with the former district collector of the BOC, who
allowed the acceptance of the late IEIRDs and the
collection of duties using the 3-percent declared rate.
The SC
added that a clear indication of petitioner’s deliberate
intention to defraud the government was its non
disclosure of discrepancies on the duties declared in
the import entry declarations (10 percent) and IEIRDs (3
percent) covering the shipments.
“It was
not by sheer coincidence that. . .the time petitioner
filed its IEIRDs way beyond the mandated period. Both
the CTA Division and en banc found the explanation of
petitioner [for its delay in filing] unsatisfactory,”
the SC added.
Concurring with the ruling were Chief Justice Reynato
Puno and Associate Justices Antonio Carpio and Maria
Alicia Austria-Martinez. |
