Steel group seeks BOC chief’s help

A local steel group has asked Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon to stop the release of some P95 million worth of imported steel bars from China, claiming that the said shipment was smuggled into the country.

In a letter dated July 1, Philippine Iron and Steel Institute (Pisi) urged Faeldon to enforce the warrant of seizure and detention on the shipment, due to irregularities in the import declarations, until a new set of tests conducted in the presence of industry representatives was been completed.

Pisi alleged the shipment was undervalued; that there was misdeclaration of the tariff code, and  specific sizes and grade of the deformed steel bars were not declared.

“Media reports claimed the said shipment was ordered released by Subic Customs officials despite the order of the Commissioner’s Office and the irregularities in the declaration in the import entry,” Pisi president Roberto Cola said in the letter.

Earlier this year, Pisi raised the alarm over a possible smuggling activity at the Subic port involving 5,000 metric tons of imported steel bars (rebars), as it questioned the validity of the permits issued by a state department and of the company making the importation.

Cola earlier said the group wanted to verify the legitimacy of the “provisional” import commodity clearance issued by the Department of Trade and Industry, and of the supposed tests done on a sample of the imported steel.

The group also said the shipment was brought in by Mannage Resources Trading Corp. which was put up only last year to engage in the food business. It had a capital of only P400,000 while its importation had an estimated market value of P95 million.