Tax raps slapped on oil firm

MANILA, Philippines—The Bureau of Customs (BOC) Thursday filed a P5-billion smuggling case against Phoenix Petroleum Philippines Inc., which the bureau describes as one of the country’s “fastest growing” oil companies.

Customs Commissioner Angelito Alvarez filed the complaint at the Department of Justice (DoJ) against Dennis Ang Uy, president and chief operating officer of Phoenix, for alleged violations of various tariff and customs code.

These include the non-payment of excise and value-added taxes, and non-submission of import documents such as invoices and bills of lading, Alvarez said in a press conference at the DoJ.

Also named in the charge sheet were Jorlan Capin Cabanes, a Davao-based customs broker, and several John and Jane Does, including customs employees.

In a statement, Phoenix denied that it was not paying taxes and not submitting import documents.

The company said it “has been paying taxes religiously and its records will clearly belie these unfounded accusations against it.

It noted that the company was among the top taxpayers in Davao City, where it is based.

Fastest growing

Alvarez called Phoenix one of the country’s “fastest growing” oil companies.

Alvarez said its first quarter revenue of P6.1 billion this year was 122 percent higher than its P2.75 billion revenue during the same period last year.

“The company also reported a 97-percent increase in volume year-on-year,” Alvarez said.

Phoenix has a number of gas stations nationwide.

Alvarez said the case against Phoenix was based on the discovery of nine import entries that did not match the volume and value of the Load Port Survey (LPS) provided by an international surveyor contracted by the BOC.

Investigation by the BOC’s Run After the Smugglers (RATS) group showed that Phoenix imported several times from Thailand petroleum products with a combined dutiable value of P5.14 billion from June 2010 to April this year.

RATS discovered that petroleum products worth P495 million imported by Phoenix between June and December last year were cleared by the BOC without any supporting import entry declarations.

It said imported products worth P4.7 billion, while covered by 31 import entry declarations, were taken out of the Davao port and the sub-port of Bauan, Batangas, between June 2010 and April 2011 despite the non-submission by Phoenix of import documents such as invoices and bills of lading.

The RATS group executive director, Customs Deputy Commissioner Gregorio Chavez, said “Phoenix’s various sins of omission against customs revenue gave the Bureau of Customs sufficient justification to legally claim as restitution from Phoenix the total value of the fraudulent shipments which sums up to P5.14 billion.”

Phoenix is the fourth oil company hauled by the BOC before the Department of Justice for alleged smuggling that defrauded the government of billions of pesos, prompting the BOC to check records of all imports by all oil firms, Alvarez said.