Customs bureau ordered to give seized rice to DSWD
Credit to Author: MAYVELIN U. CARABALLO, TMT| Date: Tue, 25 Dec 2018 16:15:06 +0000
The Bureau of Customs (BoC) has been told to donate 30,000 bags of undocumented rice to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in aid of the government’s anti-poverty and disaster relief programs.
In a statement on Tuesday, the Finance department said that Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez 3rd gave the order to newly installed Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero following the interception of the shipment in Zamboanga City.
“Donate that to the DSWD. They can use that,” Dominguez was quoted as having told Guerrero.
The Finance chief previously directed the Customs bureau to release smuggled rice and other food items seized by the agency to the DSWD to augment government preparations before typhoon “Ompong” struck northern Luzon in September.
“[G]overnment-to-government transfers in emergency situations can be legally fast-tracked” for disaster relief, Dominguez said.
The Finance department noted that the 30,000 bags of rice covered by the new order would add to the 16,000 bags earlier turned over by BoC under former commissioner Isidro Lapeña.
About 9,000 bags of rice seized in the Port of Cebu were turned over to the DSWD on September 14 while nearly 7,000 bags from the Port of Zamboanga and 748 bags in the custody of the bureau’s Enforcement and Security Service were also donated on September 19 and 24, respectively.
The Customs bureau said it also donated 5,040 pieces of canned goods, 109 packages of emergency survival blankets; 350 boxes of bed sheets, blankets and towels; 1,332 boxes of brand new clothes and 153 packages of face masks from the Manila International Container Port (MICP) on September 21.
Quoting a BoC report, the Finance department said the bureau would also be donating used clothing seized from the ports of San Fernando in La Union, Manila, MICP, Legazpi City, Cebu, Cagayan de Oro, Davao and Subic.
Citing Chapter 10, Section 1141 of the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act (CMTA), it pointed out that goods up for disposal “may be donated to another government agency or declared for official use by the bureau, after approval of the Secretary of Finance, or sold at a public auction within 30 days after a 10-day notice posted at a public place at the port where the goods are located and published electronically or in a newspaper of general circulation.”
“Also, goods suitable for shelter, food items, clothing materials and medicines ‘may be donated to the DSWD’,” the department added.
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