MALACAÑANG stressed on Friday that the Bureau of Customs cannot unilaterally increase tariffs without the advise and consent of Congress.
“I did see that report and we also want to know more about it,” Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte said of reports that the BoC will increase tariffs on balikbayan boxes this Christmas season.
“But for me, tariffs cannot be raised without the approval either via treaty or by Congress,” Valte said. “This cannot be if Congress did not approve this. Nonetheless, we have already asked the Department of Finance,” said Valte.
Support groups for migrant workers earlier welcomed an apology by Customs Commissioner Alberto Lina at a Senate hearing for the opening of balikbayan boxes for flimsy reasons.
He said the BoC’s campaign was only aimed at unscrupulous individuals and syndicates that try to take advantage of the lax procedures for containers that bring in balikbayan boxes to smuggle their own contraband.
Lina is owner and chairman of the board of about 18 freight forwarding and affiliated companies involved in shipping, warehousing and customs brokerage, which critics said is a “conflict of interest” because he is already the Customs commissioner.
Lina reportedly passed on his companies to his wife and children to avoid the “conflict of interest.”
But another irritant emerged between the bureau and the OFW sector—the BoC’s doubling of shipping container taxes, which will effectively translate into a pass-on cost of P100 per box initially, and P250 by December, for the OFWs.
“The cat is out of the bag. The additional charge that the Bureau of Customs has imposed on a container of balikbayan boxes is now out in the open,” Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said.
The two-step increase between now and Christmas, when thousands of boxes are sent home by OFWs, will translate into an additional cost to the workers of P100 initially, and another P150 for a total of P250, said Recto.
In the press statement, Recto said “it has been confirmed that the amount of duties and taxes on a shipping container has been increased from P80,000 to P120,000.”
Because the increase will eventually be shouldered by OFWs who send the boxes, the pass-on cost is P100 per box.
This is based on a usual load of 400 balikbayan boxes per 40-foot container, Recto explained.
It has also been confirmed at the hearing, added Recto, that Customs plans to further raise the duties and taxes on a container of balikbayan boxes to P180,000 this October.
Again, this will be passed on to senders of these boxes. If this second round of increases will materialize, the additional charge per box will be P150, he added.
“In short, the two increases will force OFWs to pay an additional P250 per box. Whoever will send a balikbayan box this Christmas, in all likelihood that will be hit by the additional charges.”
This information was confirmed by the freight forwarders present at the Senate hearing, Recto said. As consolidators, these are the parties who actually pay the duties and taxes to the Customs.
“They confirm that they are now paying the new rates. And they confirm that they will pass on the additional duties to the senders.
“The scenario of a second round of increase next month was never disputed by any BOC officials present during the hearing,” Recto said.
“We appreciate Commissioner Lina’s clarification before the Senate and the public at large that the OFWs were never a target, and that he would like to see more protection and benefits for our overseas workers in the proposed law,” John Bertiz, OFW coalition spokesman, said.
Relatedly, Senator Juan Edgardo Angara said the public apology by Lina is not enough even though he promised to set up a complaints desk for OFWs.
Angara, chairman of the Senate ways and means hearing the proposed Customs Modernization and Tariff Act, said Lina should initiate a clear and coherent policy on balikbayan boxes.
Lina had earlier admitted owning 18 companies, six of which has direct transactions with the BOC.
“Immediately upon being advised of my appointment as Commissioner of the Bureau of Customs, I immediately met with the directors and officers of all my companies and announced my resignation from the chairmanship and vacated my seat as director of all the companies comprising the Lina group,” Lina said.
Lina announced that he and his family would divest their shares in the six companies that dealt directly with the agency: 2100 Customs Brokers Inc., LGC Logistics, U-Freight Phils Inc., U-Ocean Inc., E-Konek Pilipinas Inc, and Air 21.
E-Konek Pilipinas, as stated in its website, is building and implementing the core customs application of Electronic-to-Mobile (e2m) Customs, a computerization project of the BOC.
“I was already set to divest that. Even my wife. Even my childfren, so longs as it has to do with the Bureau of Customs so there will no longer be any doubt,” Lina said.
The law provided that a public official or employee should avoid conflicts of interest at all times.
Republic Act No. 6713 or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees provides that “when a conflict of interest arises, he shall resign from his position in any private business enterprise.”
When asked why he’d choose to let go of a business empire he has and built, Lina says, “I love this country more than anything else.”
Lina and his wife Sylvia were listed as officers and/or stockholders in at least 19 companies registered at the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Except for two, all these companies are part of the Lina Group of Companies, based on the company’s website.
All 19 companies are multi-million-peso businesses with authorized capital ranging from P2 million to P500 million. Most of these companies were registered with the SEC more than a decade ago.
Based on the latest available SEC documents, Lina is an officer in 18 companies: the chairman in 16, and a director in two.
These companies are: 2100 Customs Brokers Inc, Air21 Global Inc, Airfreight 2100 Inc., Cargohaus Inc., Dun & Bradstreet Philippines Inc; E-Konek Pilipinas Inc, LGC Logistics, U-Freight Phils. Inc, Ube Media; GO21 Inc., Lina Farm and Food Services Corp., Linaheim Corporate Travel and Tours, Linaheim Corporate Services, SolarLina Energy System Corp., Integrated Waste Management Inc. (makers of Portalets), Dynamic Outsource Solution, Waste and Resources Management Inc., and Linaheim Bonded Trading Warehouse Inc.
