|
Fuel
marking to beat smugglers
TO
ensure that fuel going through the Batangas City Port or
through the special economic zones at Subic and Clark
pay proper taxes and duties, customs officials have
vowed to keep a keen eye on the nearby ports of Limay
and Mariveles in Bataan.
The
Bureau of Customs (BOC) is set to launch its
fuel-marking program on November 3 in a bid to curb
rampant smuggling of imported fuel products, but fears
this will be defeated by coursing the excisable imports
in so-called alternate points of entry.
So
customs personnel will be watching the ports of Limay
and Mariveles with a keen eye, as well, customs
officials said on Tuesday.
According to the BOC, the fuel-marking scheme is led by
the private sector, in particular by the Big Three oil
companies in association with the Société Générale de
Surveillance.
The
big oil players stand to lose the most from rampant
smuggling of excisable oil, and have partnered with SGS
and the UK-based Authentix, which has technology able to
distinguish tax-paid oil that has been especially added
with chemicals to separate them from the smuggled
variety.
The
fuel marks should also serve as evidence against those
who sell fuel oil and related products without paying
proper import duties and excise tax as legitimate oil
importers do, according to the BOC.
The
BOC previously said some P7 billion worth of excise tax
go uncollected due to smuggling. Another P3 billion
worth of duties was estimated to have been similarly
lost. (J. Vallecera)
$900,000
reward for seamen
TWELVE Filipino seamen were awarded a total of $900,000
(P41.5 million) by the United States for helping
prosecute the owners and operators of two ships that
illegally dumped sludge oil and contaminated waste water
into the ocean.
The
rewards, which ranged from $25,000 to $175,000, were
presented in a ceremony at the US Embassy in Manila on
Tuesday.
The
merchant sailors were crewmen of the M/V Windsor Castle,
a bulk carrier vessel, and the M/T Clipper Trojan.
P10-B
budget for DSWD in 2008
THE
subcommittee of the House appropriations committee has
approved the proposed P10.5-billion budget for the
Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in
the proposed P1.415-trillion 2009 budget.
The
Department of Budget and Management said this gives the
DSWD more “welfare armor” in the form of conditional
cash transfers and subsidies to families at risk from
food- and fuel-price spirals. (F. Marasigan)
Manila
cops given BlackBerrys
MANILA police mobile patrol units can now instantly
verify registrations and licenses of suspect drivers
using BlackBerry business cell phones that connect them
to the needed database.
The
Manila police began distributing Tuesday these new
crime-fighting gear that can instantly link with the
Automatic License Plate Recognition System of the Land
Transportation Office, do messaging with the National
Bureau of Investigation for updated crime records, and
link with the Highway Patrol Group’s stolen-car
database. (TJ Agcaoili)
Two
robbers collared
A
TEAM of intelligence and warrant section men of the
Caloocan police arrested two notorious robbery-holdup
gangmen in separate raids in Camarin, Caloocan City, and
Cauayan, Isabela, over the weekend.
The
suspects were identified as Alvin San Jose, 25, of
Maypajo, Caloocan, and Mar Anthony Pedrosa, 28, of Purok
4, Caloocan.
Insp.
Alfredo Acson, chief of the warrant section, said the
suspects are members of the Michael Cabuang robbery gang
believed behind the string of robbery-holdups in
Dagat-Dagatan and Maypajo in Caloocan. (J. Mayuga)
Global
City’s ‘shield’ against criminals
BONIFACIO
Global City recently launched its anticriminality
program called “Shield,” spearheaded by the Bonifacio
Global City Estate Association in cooperation with the
Southern Police District and the Taguig City police.
Present in the launch was Metro Manila police chief
Director Geary Barias who said, “We at the PNP have a
parallel vision with Bonifacio Global City: to make the
city a safer, better place to live and visit.”
The
Shield is said to be the first anticriminality program
in Asia that will use closed-circuit TVs providing live
feed to the Shield team.
Korean
nominated to WHO
THE
World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Committee for
the Western Pacific has nominated Dr. Shin Young Soo as
the next regional director for the Western Pacific
Region at the 59th session and annual meeting of WHO on
September 22.
Shin
is a professor at the College of Medicine, Seoul
National University, and has been active in
health-related organizations for the last three decades.
He is scheduled to take over Dr. Shigeru Omi, who was
regional director for the last 10 years. (M. Guieb) |
