CA stops gov’t from pursuing smuggling case vs Phoenix Petroleum

PHOTO FROM PHOENIXPHILIPPINES.COM

MANILA, Philippines—Taking note of the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) “extraordinary swiftness” in ordering the filing of more than P5 billion smuggling raps against the president and CEO of Phoenix Petroleum Philippines Inc. and his broker which might endanger their rights, the Court of Appeals stopped the government from pursuing the case.

In a six-page resolution through Associate Justice Francisco Acosta, the appeals court said “an initial assessment on the instant case reveals the extraordinary swiftness of the DOJ in reversing itself and in rendering the challenged resolution thereby disregarding the petitioner’s right to a full-blown preliminary investigation.”

“It appears that the DOJ allowed the Bureau of Customs to introduce new matters in its motion for reconsideration and in its reply which were eventually considered and made basis for the issuance of the assailed resolution…Simply put, unless the implementation of the questioned resolution is restrained, the petitioner may stand trial for criminal charges which he had no chance to rebut,” the appeals court said.

The appeals court said if not restrained and a warrant for the arrest has been issued, the respondents’ right to liberty “would seriously be placed in danger.”

The DOJ recently ordered the filing of over P5-billion smuggling complaint against Phoenix’ President and CEO Dennis Ang Uy and broker Jorlan Capiin Cabanes reversing its November 2012 ruling that cleared that two.

Uy and Cabanes, the DOJ resolution stated, have personal knowledge “and direct participation in the operations of Phoenix, including the processing and release of shipments that were already abandoned in favor of the government for failure to file import entries within 30 days from discharge of goods.”

De Lima said the documents submitted by Phoenix “contain discrepancies, inconsistencies and variance—vis-à-vis the documents submitted by complainant [Bureau of Customs] relative to the shipment in question.”

For instance, the importations from June 2010 to November 2010 with a combined dutiable value of P589,523,451.772 are without import entries. While Phoenix submitted Import Entry Revenue Declaration (IERD), the BoC submitted documents showing that the IERD is about a different consignee and shipment.

While the imported Gasoil and Ron 93 Unleaded Gasoline at the Port of Davao from January to March 2011 worth P1,558,809,162.00, payments of duties were made late, hence, it was already deemed abandoned and became property of the government.

For the P1,962,839,557 June 2010 to April 2010 importation of various petroleum products, the DOJ said Phoenix submitted supporting documents but BOC submitted evidence that it was about a different shipment.

On the other hand, the P1,336,569,393 and P533,471,269 worth of shipment were not covered by the required Load Port Surveys.

“With all the discrepancies, inconsistencies and variance in the documents submitted by respondents vis-à-vis the documents submitted by the complainant relative to the shipments in question, we cannot sustain the finding in our resolution of Nov. 16, 2012 that dismissed the complaint against the respondent,” the DOJ said.

It was Cabanes who filed the petition at the CA. But Atty. Raymond Zorilla, Phoenix Petroleum Vice President for External Affairs and Business Development, said it will also inure to the benefit of the other respondents including Dennis Ang Uy.

The appeals court has set a hearing on June 27. The TRO will be for 60 days.