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SUBIC BAY Freeport: More stringent measure will now
be implemented by the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority to help
lessen if not stop smuggling in Subic Freeport.
In a press conference SBMA
Administrator Armand Arreza told reporters here on Tuesday that the
agency would now require importers in Subic to obtain clearance from
the Bureau of Import Services (BIS), and to provide the exact
details of shipments brought into the Freeport.
Arezza added that the board of
Director would also bring in a third party to undertake real time
audit of goods entering and exiting Subic.
The new measure also seeks to
require importers to provide specific specification on cargoes
brought into Subic which SBMA thinks would help prevent
misdeclaration and undervaluation of goods, which are common forms
of smuggling in Subic.
“Sometimes importers would just
declare that their cargo consisted of a passenger car, which would
later turn out to be a Lamborghini. By requiring importers to
declare specifics at the outset, we hope to close that window of
opportunity to misdeclare or undervalue their imports,” Arreza
said.
He added that even the Automated
System for Customs Data [ASYCUDA] “would be useless if no specific
information is fed into the system.”
On its own, the SBMA has also
imposed a moratorium on the registration of companies that import
vehicles into Subic, and delisted 45 vehicle importers found to be
involved in anomalous trading, Arreza said.
The result, he said, is that only
35 vehicle importers now remain in Subic from the previous total of
80.
The remaining firms are still
subject to the joint SBMA-BOC audit to see whether their liquidation
reports matched records at the SBMA’s Import-Export Office, he
said. Anthony Bayarong.
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