BOC sells 8.1 tons of ‘hot rice’

The Bureau of Customs (BOC) sold 8,112 tons of smuggled Vietnam rice for P211,748,280 in an auction at the Cebu International Port yesterday.
The smuggled rice contained in 312 vans are part of the 1,169 vans of smuggled rice confiscated by the BOC in March and April.
The Bureau of Customs (BOC)–Cebu earns P211,748, 280.00 or P4 million in revenues from 25 participating bidders after the second public auction conducted yesterday.
The original floor price of P207.6 million consisted of 162,240 sacks of rice from 312 container vans.
They were part of the 1,169 vans of smuggled rice that were seized last March.
Each container van has 520 sacks of rice and is being sold at P1,280.00 per sack. The winning bidder effectively paid P1,305 per sack.
Out of the 25 bidders, 15 won in the bidding with Veramar Rice Trading of Bulacan winning the biggst share worth P31,588,440 for 21,840 sacks of rice.
The bidders came from different parts of the country like Bulacan, General Santos, Davao, Manila but most of the bidders came from Cebu City. It took five hours to finish the bidding.
Cebu Customs District Collector Edward dela Cuesta said the second auction of the smuggled rice was very successful as it meant more revenues for the government.
He said they hope that they sell the remaining 807 vans containing 419,640 sacks of smuggled rice in the 3rd and 4th auction.
The 3rd auction on Aug. 22 will offer 271 vans with 140,920 sacks of the smuggled rice.
The date of the 4th and last auction has to be determined yet.
The first public auction last June 6 earned the agency P40.9 million in revenues.
Dante Marañan, officer-in-charge of the Auction and Cargo Disposal Unit facilitated the public auction witnessed by Nestor Ray Alcoseba, provincial manager of NFA-Cebu.
Pilfered vans will not be included in the auction.
Last month, about 200 sacks of smuggled rice were stolen.
The National Bureau of Investigation and the Ombudsman Visayas are still investigating the case.
The BOC is racing against time to dispose the smuggled rice as some of the grains were already found rotting.
BOC revamp
Meanwhile, Dela Cuesta said he is still uncertain if he will be retained as head of the BOC in Cebu.
“We are still breathing for the next two weeks,” he said.
Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon asked district collectors to voluntarily relinquish their posts so he can have a free hand in reorganizing the BOC.
While awaiting final orders from Biazon, dela Cuesta said they were told “to continue collecting collections and monitor their anti-smuggling operations.”
This came after the BOC got scolded by President Benigno Aquino III in his 4th State of the Nation Address last July 22, 2013.