Embattled Customs Commissioner Angelito Alvarez yesterday said he was thinking of writing the President or seeking an audience with him to explain “the real story” behind the raid on 168 Mall in Manila and other issues being hurled against him.
Alvarez said he would seek the advice of Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima after the President told reporters in Brunei that a revamp was imminent at the Bureau of Customs, adding that he felt the BOC could have done more to stop smuggling at the country’s ports.
The President seemed to think that something was amiss in the fact that it was the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and not the BOC that took the lead in raiding stalls at 168 Mall in Divisoria that were suspected of selling smuggled goods from China.
Alvarez told reporters that the small retailers at 168 Mall had in fact already been assessed higher duties and were paying them. (The BIR padlocked some of the stalls for not issuing sales receipts—not for smuggling). He said he had set his sights on big-time smugglers and had already filed 35 cases claiming P52 billion for the government.
As for the “hot cars” scandal that was recently exposed in Bukidnon, Alvarez said it happened before he took over the BOC.
“I will have to discuss with the secretary what is the proper approach. I really don’t know the President that well. I know Secretary Purisima. I don’t know how to handle him,” Alvarez said.
Alvarez blamed “vested interests” and their allied politicians for waging a campaign to have him ousted from the BOC because of the reforms he had implemented at the agency.
He admitted that he was “bothered” that the issues thrown at him keep surfacing in the media although he had already explained them.
“Of course, that has bothered me (but) as always, I serve at the pleasure of the President. At the end of the day, that’s what matters,” Alvarez said.
He said he was planning to write the President to explain “the real story” on why it was the BIR and not the BOC that conducted the raid at the popular 168 Mall where cheap goods from China are sold.
Alvarez said BIR Commissioner Kim Henares informed him in October 2010 that the President wanted the BOC and the BIR to raid stalls at the mall.
He said the BOC, through controversial customs police chief Jose Yuchongco—who was dismissed and then reinstated this year by former Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez—coordinated with the BIR.
“After several discussions, the agreement was that the BIR would be the one that would operate under Oplan Kandado. So they raided outlets that did not issue receipts,” Alvarez said.
He explained that the BOC did not participate in the raid since retailers ordinarily do not have copies of the taxes and duties they paid for imported goods.
“Even if you go to the wholesale trader they don’t have a copy. It is the importer who has the copy,” Alvarez said.
He also recalled that after the mall was raided in March and April 2006, the Chinese Embassy in Manila “and even top officials of the Chinese government reacted negatively.”
“Even Senator Serge Osmeña said the BOC was barking up the wrong tree because it was going after small-time retailers and not big-time importers in Subic, Batangas and Clark,” Alvarez said.
“So that is exactly what I did. I ran after big–time smugglers as evidenced by 35 cases filed claiming P52 billion,” Alavrez said.
He said he had qualms about raiding traders selling general merchandise because the BOC had allowed the importation of these products after raising their duties from P12,000 to P70,000 per 20–foot container and from P20,000 to P100,000 per 40–footer.
“And general merchandise items account only for 5,000 out of the 200,000 containers coming in every month. It’s only a very small percentage (2.5 percent) and they’re paying,” Alvarez said.
“Why would I have them raided if they’re paying duties and taxes?” he added.
In Brunei, Mr. Aquino told reporters that Alvarez was “under evaluation” and a reshuffle at the BOC was coming “not that soon but very soon.” It was, Mr. Aquino said, “a perpetual topic between the secretary of finance and myself.”