Customs bureau wants to auction off sunken ship

A MAN flips backwards into the waters of Manila Bay where the half-sunken Panamanian-registered cargo ship, MV Captain Ufuk, can be seen in the distance. GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

The Bureau of Customs (BOC) wants to auction off a sunken Panamanian ship as the government has spent for its safekeeping an amount bigger than the estimated value of the vessel’s cargo seven years ago as well as its current valuation.

In a statement over the weekend, the Department of Finance (DOF) said that Customs Commissioner Nicanor E. Faeldon had recommended the sale of MV Captain Ufuk H8EH, a cargo ship of Panamanian registry currently under BOC custody. The vessel sank in Manila Bay on July 17, reportedly after water seeped through a hole.

When confiscated in 2009, it reportedly carried about P25-million worth of smuggled unlicensed firearms, including five boxes containing 50 Pindad SS-1 rifles and other high-powered guns.

For seven years, the BOC paid Radial Golden Marine Services a total of over P26.5 million to safeguard and maintain the ship.

“From an initial floor price of P98.9 million when the ship was seized by a BOC team in Mariveles, Bataan, on Aug. 20, 2009, its value, as of 2015, went down by more than 400 percent to only P21.5 million, according to a Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) estimate,” the DOF said.

Meanwhile, “the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) pegged its current price at $493,450, equivalent in pesos to roughly the same estimate made by the DBP,” the DOF added.

In a memorandum to Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III, Faeldon noted that the public auction of the vessel “abides by the provisions of Republic Act No. 10863 or the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act (CMTA).”

“Under Section 1141 of the CMTA, forfeited goods for disposition may either be donated to another government agency, declared for official use by the [BOC] after the approval of the DOF Secretary or ‘sold at a public auction within 30 days after a 10-day notice,’” the DOF explained.

According to the DOF, Deputy Commissioner Arturo Lachica, who chairs the BOC’s negotiated sale committee, had recommended to Faeldon the disposition of the ship “at the soonest possible time” via negotiated sale.

The BOC had tried but failed to sell the vessel several times, the latest of which was in May, during which bidder Ingredient Management Asia Inc. submitted a P17-million offer but failed to pay the required guarantee cash deposit.