THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) on Friday filed smuggling charges against five officials and employees, and three other private individuals who were allegedly behind the entry of grossly undervalued luxury vehicles that entered the Port of Batangas on July 10 and 18, 2015.
The vehicles were valued at P145 million. Charged were Monacat Trading, its owner Rolando Cuevas, manager Mermelinda de la Cruz and licensed customs broker Flaviano de la Cruz.
The BOC accused them of “intentionally and fraudulently” misdeclaring and grossly underdeclaring the true and correct values of the luxury vehicles.
The subject of the complaint are the shipments from the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong and Japan, which include a Ferrari 458 Speciale, two 2015 Mercedes-Benz G63 AMG, a 2015 Toyota Prado, a McLaren MP4-12C OR 650S, an armored Toyota Land Cruiser GXR, a 2015 Land Rover Defender 90, a Land Rover Range Rover, a 2015 Mecedes-Benz CLK DTM AMG, a Toyota Land Cruiser GX V8 Sport and a 2015 brand-new Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG.
All of the vehicles were brand-new were brought in.
Charged were five officials and employees of the BOC Port of Batangas—Acting Assessor Eloisa Suarez, Acting COO III Marical Manguiat, COO III Norlyn Asaria , acting COO V Araceli Jasa and Acting COO V Benjamin Manalo—for “blindly proceessing the declaration on the subject import entries and several other unidentified persons who directly and indirectly participated in the smuggling of the vehicles.” “The bureau is intent on eradicating smuggling and cleaning our slate from graft and corruption. Anyone caught red-handed will not be tolerated,” Customs Commissioner Alberto D. Lina said.
Cuevas and his company are facing charges of violations of Sections 3601 and 3602 in relation to Sections 2503 and 2530 of the Tariff and Customs Code, as amended, and Article 172 of the Revised Penal Code or falsification of documents.
The BOC’s complaint alleged that de la Cruz, through their licensed customs broker, lodged with the Electronic-to-Mobile System their import entry and Internal Revenue Declarations, which were blindly processed by employees and officials of the Port of Batangas “despite glaring badges of fraud.” The top-of-the-line motor vehicles were misdeclared as lesser-class branded motor vehicles, according to the BOC.
This prompted Deputy Commissioner Ariel Nepomuceno, chief of the Enforcement Group, to issue alert orders against the said shipment.
Pursuant to said alert orders, customs examiners of the Port of Batangas conducted an examination in the presence of the officers-on-case, Alexander A. Ugay and Doy de Castro, of the BOC Enforcement and Security Service (ESS).
On August 10, Acting District Collector Ernesto P. Benitez forwarded the Spot Check/100 percent Examination Reports to the Office of the Deputy Commissioner, Assessment and Operations Coordinating Group.
On the same date, the ESS officers-on-case submitted their memorandum stating the violations found against the subject motor vehicles.
“We could have lost more than millions of pesos, had this modus operandi not been unveiled,” Lina said.