Customs losing millions of pesos to undervaluation

THE Bureau of Customs (BoC) is losing some P48 million a month in duties and taxes from rampant undervaluation, a form of technical smuggling, clearly undermining Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon’s strengthened anti-smuggling campaign aimed at cleansing the allegedly graft-ridden bureau and generate much-needed revenues.

Documents obtained by The Manila Times showed at least 102 import entries whose payments were undervalued from P18,000 to P100,000 per container, depending on the container van being 20-footer or 40-footer. Each entry contains up to more than 30 containers.