The Bureau of Customs (BOC) has filed smuggling charges against two consignees of alleged illegal shipments of imported rice and pyrotechnics with a total worth of P9.4 million.
Charged on December 21 were officials of Rainbow Holdings, Inc. (RHI) for supposedly bringing in rice misdeclared as bitamen, an oil-based substance used in road surfacing and roofing. Named in the BOC lawsuit are president and chief executive officer Eunkyoung Son, senior adviser Soon Seong Jeong, executive vice president Diosdado Serbio, Jr., corporate financial officer Rolando Ambrosio, corporate secretary Kathleen May Uy, and several others.
RHI is named as the consignee of five forty-foot equivalent units that arrived at Manila International Container Port (MICP) on July 20, 2015 and were declared to contain bitumen but were instead found to contain rice with a value of P4.9 million.
The company has been charged with violating Section 3601 (Unlawful Importation) in relation to Section 101 (Prohibited Importation) of the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines (TCCP) as amended, and Article 172 of the Revised Penal Code (Falsification by Private Individual and Use of Falsified Documents).
The customs bureau also filed lawsuits against officers of Stellent Corporation for misdeclaring in November 2014 its importation as containing thousands of cartons of tissues, when in fact it consisted of an undetermined quantity of pyrotechnics.
The pyrotechnics, which arrived at MICP from Hong Kong, were valued at P4.5 million.
The officers were identified as company president Charmayne D. Angeles, secretary Asuncion Angeles, treasurer Ma. Rhezy Ilkada, and incorporator and chairman Ruge Robert Ilada.
Stellent is charged with violating Section 3601 in relation to Section 101 and Section 2530 (Property Subject to Forfeiture under the Tariff and Customs Laws) of the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines, as amended. It has also been charged with violating Republic Act No. 7183 which regulates the sale, manufacture, and use of firecrackers and other pyrotechnic devices, and Article 172 of the Revised Penal Code.
Section 3601 of the TCCP states that “any person who shall fraudulently import or bring into the Philippines, or assist in so doing, any article, contrary to law, or shall receive, conceal, buy, sell, or in any manner facilitate the transportation concealment, or sale of such article after importation, knowing the same to have been contrary to law shall be guilty of smuggling and shall be punished.”
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