DAVAO CITY—The lawyer of two trading firms on Saturday decried what he said was the persecution of the two companies that shipped rice into this city and are being tagged smugglers in black propaganda.
“My clients are not smugglers,” said lawyer Benito Salazar, legal counsel of Starcraft International Trading Corp. and Silent Royalty Marketing, two trading firms whose rice shipments are being held by the customs bureau at this city’s port.
Customs officials here said they would continue to hold on to the P21 million in imported rice pending the receipt of copies of decisions of courts in Manila, Batangas and Davao ordering the shipments’ release.
Datu Samson Pacasum, customs collector here, said he had no copies yet of the court decisions and would hold on to the shipments.
In his statement, Salazar said Starcraft was willing to “pay the proper tariffs, in this case, the requisite 50-percent duties.”
“Where did you see a smuggler ready to pay the right duties?” said Salazar. “Smugglers exert effort to evade such duties. No such thing was done here,” he said.
Salazar said Starcraft had written the National Food Authority (NFA) in September last year to inform the agency of the firm’s rice importation. The NFA required an import permit, which, Salazar said, was violative of an international trade agreement that removes quantitative restrictions (QR) on rice imports, provided the correct tariff and duties are paid by importers.
The effectivity of QR on rice imports expired in June 2012. The expiration was also recognized by lawyers of the customs bureau, according to Salazar.
In a note dated Sept. 23 last year, Simplicio Domingo, customs legal director, acknowledged that the special treatment given to the Philippines by international trade agreements in the form of QR “already expired last June 30, 2012.”
Mayor Rodrigo Duterte has issued a warning to smugglers in the city that he will personally kill them and go to prison.
Salazar, in his statement, said the mayor’s statements were “unfortunate.”
“We laud Mayor Duterte for his no-nonsense battle against crime but in this case, no crime was committed and my clients are not criminals,” said Salazar.
Duterte has said he will not oppose the release of the rice shipments as long as the importers pay the correct duties.
“As long as they have paid all the permits, that is not considered smuggling anymore,” Duterte said. Allan Nawal and Germelina Lacorte, Inquirer Mindanao