11 Bulacan warehouses closed over tax woes

GUIGUINTO, BULACAN—Authorities on Thursday raided a compound here where 11 warehouses were being operated by five companies that had allegedly not been paying taxes.

The raiding team, led by officials of the Department of Finance (DOF) and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), inspected the T-12 commercial complex and found sacks of imported Vietnam and Myanmar rice, milk and liquid detergent products worth about P1 billion.

The BIR Deputy Commissioner Arnel Guballa said UPFC Logistics Corp., a firm registered in Balagtas town which operates a rice warehouse in the compound, had not paid a registration tax.

Found in the warehouse were 260,000 sacks of rice.

The raiding team also shut down the storage facilities of Cagayan Corn Products Corp., Pacific Rim Transport & Logistics Inc., AAI Logistics Cargo Express Inc. and JCOP Trading and Distribution.

Guballa said they ordered the five companies to stop operation for five days and required them to pay taxes within that period “to avoid being charged with unlawful pursuit of business.”

All five firms violated provisions of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997, he said.

He said the five establishments were not compliant with the registration requirements, which included posting of the annual registration fee, payment form and original certificate of registration. —CARMELA REYES-ESTROPE