BOC to pursue probe of alleged toxic waste shipment from Manila to South Korea

Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon. FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines— The Bureau of Customs is looking into the alleged shipment in May 2012 of 14 containers of toxic waste from the Manila International Container Port (MICP) to Pusan, South Korea, via the southern Taiwanese port of Kaohsiung.

The case is also being investigated by the International Police, according to Philippine Daily Inquirer sources at the BOC and National Bureau of Investigation.

Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon last month told this paper he had instructed MICP Collector Ricardo Belmonte to “give me a report” on the issue.

Last week, Biazon disclosed “the feedback of Collector Belmonte is that there’s no such toxic waste shipment” from the MICP.

In a text message, the BOC head also said “there’s no report to me by any Customs unit, saying that there’s such a shipment.”

However, the former Muntinlupa City legislator said he would “inquire again with the MICP collector, as well as the Intelligence and the Enforcement groups.”

When contacted, Intelligence group staff said they were “still tracing the source” of the alleged hazardous waste, declared as stainless steel by its Metro Manila-based exporter.

The same sources added they were also “trying to determine if the Philippines was the shipment’s actual point of origin or just a transshipment point.”

In an Oct. 17 memorandum, Danilo Lim, Customs deputy commissioner for intelligence, asked the MICP for a copy of the export declaration of the subject shipment, scheduled to leave Manila on May 14, 2012.

The memo was addressed to Joji Rondina, chief of the MICP’s export division.

INQUIRER sources identified the shipper, the shipment’s consignee bank and contact party in Incheon, South Korea, but asked not to publish their names.

According to the shipment’s bill of lading, the 14 containers were loaded on the MV YM Immense, a container ship belonging to the Yang Ming Marine Transport, a shipping firm based in Keelung City, Taiwan.

The Monrovia-registered vessel, built in 2006, is 173 meters long and has a gross weight of 16,848 tons.

Meanwhile, the BOC will closely scrutinize this year the business records of bureau-accredited exporters and importers and unmask not only smugglers but also fly-by-night and fictitious traders.

Biazon said “it’s true smuggling is still one of the biggest problems facing the bureau.” However, he emphasized “it’s not true that we are not addressing the problem.”

At the same time, he warned BOC officials and employees who have been making fortunes by conniving with smugglers, saying “the days of erring bureau personnel are definitely numbered.”

“Those who continue to engage in illegal activities in connivance with smugglers will be targeted and will face the full force of the law,” according to Biazon.

In a text message, the BOC chief expressed confidence personnel of the Department of Finance-attached agency would “live up to my expectations that they would outperform themselves not only in the Run After the Smugglers, or RATS program, our anti-smuggling drive, but also in revenue collection and trade facilitation.

“I intend to surpass our 2012 accomplishments under our RATS campaign, just as we surpassed our accomplishments in the previous year,” he added.