Auction of smuggled Viet rice starts

CEBU CITY—Customs officials on Thursday started auctioning off the P1.2 billion worth of  rice smuggled from Vietnam recently and seized at this port.

Four rice retailers won in the bidding of a portion of the seized smuggled rice held at the Bureau of Customs office here.

They are ETB Agro, Dragon Grains, Angel Gabriel Milling, and MNPS General Merchandise.

Their winning bid of at least P40 million was higher than the P35-million floor price for 22,574 sacks of rice, which was determined by the National Food Authority (NFA).

Cebu customs collector Edward dela Cuesta said 11 bidders participated in the auction.

To ensure that they were not smugglers masquerading as legitimate retailers, the participants were told to submit their notarized bidder’s information forms, latest income and business tax returns, community tax certificates, business permits and business registration certificates before they were allowed to take part in the bidding.

The seized rice shipment was the biggest haul of the bureau in recent years.

Danilo Lim, deputy customs commissioner for intelligence, attended the bidding and told reporters that the customs bureau was now preparing to file criminal charges against those behind the smuggling attempt, particularly the eight consignees who had been identified in the shipment papers.

Customs officials earlier identified the eight consignees as JJM Global Trading, with an address at Room No. 212 Crown Building, North Reclamation Area, Cebu; JM-ARS Trading, 308 Crown Building, North Reclamation Area, Cebu; Neon Gateway Trading, Sta. Rosa, Poblacion, Alegria, Cebu; Custans Enterprises, 3H Gemini Building, MJ Cuenco Ave., Cebu; Melma Enterprises, Room No. 201, GK Chua Building, MJ Cuenco St., Cebu; NMW Enterprises, Marigondon, Lapu-Lapu City; Ocean Park Enterprises; and MMSM Trading.

Dela Cuesta said the NFA thoroughly checked the backgrounds of those who took part in the bidding to make sure they were accredited retailers.

The bureau invited observers from the private sector and the media to witness the auction.

Marilou Ong, a retailer of Paracao General Merchandise, said she participated in the bidding since she believed the smuggled rice were of high quality.  She, however, lost in the bidding.

Ong, a retailer since 1994, said that as a small retailer, her company could purchase only small volumes of rice.

The 22,574 bags of rice that were bid out are part of the P1.2 billion worth of smuggled rice seized by the bureau.

Lawyer Dante Maranan, chair of the bureau’s bidding committee, said bureau officials were planning to bid out the remaining smuggled rice shipment by the end of the month.

Cebu port authorities seized 1,169 container vans between March 22 and April 3 on suspicion that the shipment was falsely declared as stone slabs, granite slabs, cooling insulators and cellulose fibers.

When they opened the container vans, these turned out to contain at least 600,000 sacks of Vietnam rice worth P1.2 billion.