The government plans to limit to two customs
bonded warehouses (CBWs) to monitor goods as well as plug tax
leakage.
The two warehouses operated by the Philippine
Exporters Confederation (Philexport) and the Philippine
International Trading Corp. (PITC) will be left, once plans push
through.
President Arroyo ordered the Department of
Finance to craft a plan to abolish CBWs, which now numbers 100
nationwide.
The task force composed of Finance
Undersecretary Estela Valdez-Sales, Atty. Rey Nicolas, Customs
deputy commissioner with MICP collector Horacio Suansing and
lawyer were tasked to determine if there are legal constraints
to the proposal.
"The abolition of the CBW will not be a
solution to the problem," said Nicolas adding that that they are
not even looking into how to implement it.
He assured CBW operators that it is not an
easy task to do.
"Even if there is irregular participation of
customs personnel (in the CBW), I believe this is an isolated
incident and to solve that, there should be strict
implementation of the law," Nicolas said.
The government is said to lose about P140
billion in potential revenues every year due to smuggling.
The proposal come out to ensure that
importers pay the correct duties and taxes if the goods are not
re-exported within the allowed time or used for domestic
consumption.
Some of the imported raw materials kept in
CBWs are suspected to be being used for domestic sale rather
than exports and they are kept to avoid paying taxes.
Export firms can store imported raw materials
in CBWs to exempt them from import duties and taxes as long as
the goods are re-exported within a certain period of time.
CBW operators meanwhile, led by the Customs
Bonded Warehouse Confederation, Inc. and the NAIA Customs Bonded
Warehouse Operators, strongly opposed the proposal.
The Bureau of Customs has simplified the
government’s warehousing procedures to prevent the accumulation
of unliquidated entries.
The draft order show, importers of raw
materials meant for re-exportation will have at least 60
calendar days from the date of full exportation to submit all
documents for the liquidation of entry.
The revised rules are also meant to discourage late
re-exportation as well as late submission of liquidation
documents, the draft order said.
