Sendoff graft charges set against Lina et al.
MULTIMILLION-PESO graft charges loom as a sendoff for outgoing Customs Commissioner Alberto Lina over his refusal to release imported construction steel rebars despite their having been cleared by proper officials of customs and the Department of Trade and Industry.
Crying harassment, owners of the importing firm Manage Resource Trading Corp. (MRTC) said yesterday they were filing a P200-million graft case and unfair trade charges against Lina, as well as other officials of customs and the Philippine Iron and Steel Institute (PISI).
Marine Capt. Nicanor Faeldon, sent by president-elect Rody Duterte to clean the customs stable of corruption, will be greeted by the rebar scandal as he pursues his reform plans. (Rebars, or reinforcing bars, are steel rods with rough ridges used in reinforced concrete.)
The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industries (PCCI) and the International Chamber of Commerce Philippines (ICCP) have issued a joint statement condemning Lina’s holding the release of the rebar shipments.
PCCI chief operating officer Donald Dee says Lina’s action sets a dangerous precedent for legitimate importers whose cargoes already cleared for release are still being held indefinitely only on the say-so of the customs commissioner.
Dee says that under the law, shipments that have already passed scrutiny by the BoC as well as the DTI’s Bureau of Product Standards should be immediately released.
It is puzzling, he adds, why despite the BPS-DTI clearances and favorable recommendations of the proper customs officials, Lina refuses to give the go-ahead for MRTC to recover its shipment. The BoC’s operational mandate, he adds, is to expedite the release of cargo that has been issued a final Import Clearance Certificate (ICC).
The case has prompted Director General Jess Varela of the International Chamber of Commerce Philippines (ICCP) to call upon government to ratify the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) to avoid what could be construed as missteps and to eliminate the over-extending discretionary powers of the customs bureau that hamper international trade and discourage foreign investments.
The TFA, he said, can provide clear-cut processes that shut “windows for corruption.”
After ICC, Lina’s approval is ministerial
CUSTOMS raised an alert on the rebar shipment last April 21, after president Roberto Cola of the Philippine Iron and Steel Industry (PISI) requested the bureau’s intelligence division to put the shipment on hold.
Two hearings were held, resulting in a decision of the customs bureau in Subic, Zambales, finding no irregularities in the rebars shipment. In response, PISI tried to stop its release by questioning the jurisdiction of BPS-Zambales in the issuance of the Import Clearance Certificate.
But BPS-DTI Director-in-Charge Anne Claire Cabochan issued a memorandum establishing the jurisdiction of BPS-Zambales over the shipment and finding the same to be in order.
The shipment was also subjected to laboratory tests covered by PNS 49:2002 by SGS and MIRDC, the duly accredited testing arm of government. Test results showed conformity to set national standards.
A BPS memorandum said that the ICC should follow. But Commissioner Lina refused to release the cargo unless a confirmatory document signed by the Secretary of Trade and Industry is given to him.
MRTC representative Lawrence Daniel Sy said this new requirement imposed by Lina is not just preposterous but is not required by law. No trade secretary will ever issue such an endorsement, he said, because it will open him to possible graft charges.
The authority to issue an ICC for release, he stressed, is within the sole jurisdiction of the BPS, and that the role of the customs commissioner is just ministerial.
Millennials battling the Old Boys Club
SY DEBUNKED claims by PISI and the Federation of Philippine Industry (FPI) that the tests on the rebar samples were inappropriate. He said the test complied with the implementing guidelines covering the mandatory certification of steel bars and the rules governing sampling.
Ian Chan, the 29-year-old COO of MRTC, speculated that the PISI complaints were an attempt to mask the undervaluation of their shipment which the Philippine Steelmakers Association filed before the bureau.
In said complaint, PISI’s Roberto Cola, declared their shipment at $205/ton, or $35 lower than the government threshold value of $240. The FPI’s William Ranaga was identified in the complaint as having recommended the undervalued amount at 0-percent tax even if the shipment originated from Russia.
While PISI’s cargo has been released, the case remains pending before the bureau since February 2016, while MRTC’s cargo, with a declaration higher than the threshold value, was acted upon with haste and contrary to existing rules and regulations.
The Samahan ng Mga Konsyumer ng Pilipinas recently caused the testing of rebars in the market. Six out of the 11 tested so far yielded results of -7 to -13 percent off the standard imposed by government which should not be more than -.06 percent.
Many of the steel bars used in the bunkhouses in the post-Yolanda rehabilitation in Leyte had been found to be substandard, contributing to the failure of the dwellings to withstand the stress of stormy weather.
As new industry players, the millennials who operate the MRTC vowed to continue hewing to ethical and legal practices by abiding by all standards and provisions of law. Sy noted what he said is an attempt by the Old Boys Club to demolish competition by any means.
Meanwhile, the losses of the young entrepreneurs have been piling up, prompting them to prepare for filing libel and a P150-million damage suits against Cola.
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