The Bureau of Customs (BOC) filed a third round of smuggling charges against the owner of New Dawn Enterprises for alleged illegal importation of 260,000 kilograms of sugar worth around P13 million.
Respondent Michael Abella was charged for misdeclaring and failing to obtain import permits for these shipments, and for violating Sections 3601 and 101 of the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines.
Moreover, New Dawn allegedly failed to provide the proper Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) permit, in violation of SRA Sugar Order No. 8-1994-95 that requires a valid import permit for all sugar importations. The company also supposedly broke provisions under Joint Memorandum Order (JMO) No. 4-2002.
The case involves shipments of New Dawn consisting of 10 containers of refined sugar that arrived in December 2014 at the Port of Cagayan De Oro. New Dawn allegedly misdeclared the sugar imports in its import documents as kitchenware and tiles.
The company is already facing two smuggling charges, both for allegedly illegally importing rice. The first case, filed last January by BOC, involved unlawful glutinous rice imports worth P28 million through Cagayan de Oro Port last November 2014. The second case was filed last March, for again illegally importing rice worth P15.6 million last December 2014.
“Smuggling is a very serious menace to society. It takes away local jobs and business, and if found to be unfit for human consumption, smuggled food items can also kill. And so long as smugglers are in operation, this social and economic menace could be far from over. We hope that this serves as a lesson to would-be smugglers that we will go after all illegal shipments without the proper permits,” Customs Commissioner Alberto Lina said in a statement.
The agency filed 35 smuggling-related charges in 2014 and has pressed five charges this year as of May 7.
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