Steel firm seeks Duterte’s help on blocked imports

A major importer of steel products from China is seeking President Duterte’s intervention for the release of its latest shipment of steel bars—needed for the country’s infrastructure upgrade—which have been stuck at the Port of Subic despite compliance with rules and payment of necessary taxes.

In a letter sent last week, Mannage Resources Trading Corp. president Lawrence Sy appealed to the Office of the President to conduct an independent investigation to determine why the company’s latest importation of 20,000 metric tons of deformed steel bars were being withheld by the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) since the shipment arrived on Nov. 4, 2016.

“Up to the present, the shipment of MRTC continues to be held without any valid grounds by both the SBMA and BOC,” the company said. “This undue and unwarranted delay has caused irreversible damage to MRTC, through the commitments it has failed to meet as well as to the tarnished and besmirched reputation it suffered from the different newspaper articles circulated on the issue.”

Sy said MRTC obtained a final Import Commodity Clearance (ICC) from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) last year after complying with the requirements, but DTI officials later recalled this permit. Due to alleged abuse of discretion and lack of legal basis for the ICC’s recall, MRTC filed graft charges against DTI Region 3 director Judith Angeles and Bureau of Product Standards (BPS) assistant director Marimiel Porciuncula before the Office of the Ombudsman.

In October 2016, MRTC filed with DTI Region 3 its ICC application for the importation of 20,025.88 metric tons of 275W 10-mm and 12-mm deformed steel bars. A few days later, Angeles issued a conditional release order to MRTC enabling it to lodge its import entry with BOC. The company paid P43.3 million in taxes and duties.

The BPS then transmitted to Angeles’ office MRTC’s test report as part of the requirements for the issuance of the final release order either by the DTI regional director or BPS. On Nov. 29, Angeles issued the final ICC, but withdrew it 12 days later without stating a clear reason.

In a Dec. 14 letter to MRTC, Angeles said she ordered the ICC’s withdrawal because of a report that alleged that more than 50 percent of the bundles of steel had no tags and that the steel bars were not in a covered area. MRTC said such unilateral recall of the ICC violates DTI rules and its right to due process.

“We are seeking the assistance of the Office of the President to make its own independent investigation of the matter so that the blatant and continued harassment of MRTC in the hands of unscrupulous government officials and employees who are abusing and taking advantage of the power and authority granted unto them by their respective positions may finally be put to swift end,” Sy said.