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THE Port of Manila on Wednesday has started to seize
the oil supply of Oilink International Corporation as ordered by the
Bureau of Customs (BOC) after the firm failed to pay its penalties
to government.
Struggling to meet its revenue
target for the year, the Port of Manila, under District Collector
Horacio Suansing will conduct an inventory of the firm’s oil
supply in Mariveles, Bataan.
The Port of Manila’s move came
after Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales imposed Section 1508 of
the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines against the oil firm
for failing to pay P2.7 billion in administrative penalties.
Suansing, the chief collector for
the Port of Manila (POM) said that an alert order has been issued
against all incoming shipments of Oilink.
“We did not suspend the
accreditation of Oilink, but whatever incoming shipments they have
will not be released until they settle their obligation to the
government,” Suansing said.
The POM chief added that if
Oilink still fails to pay government, they would be forced to
auction off the firm’s oil stock to recover the amount due to the
government.
The P2.7-billion administrative
penalties were imposed upon Oilink’s refusal to cooperate with the
customs Post Entry Audit Group (PEAG) routine audit on the oil firm
last year.
The customs bureau has already
rejected the P15-million compromise deal being offered by Oilink to
settle its P2.7-billion administrative penalties covering the
2004-2007 audit.
Under RA 9135, a penalty of 20
percent of the landed cist for the period where records were not
kept will be slapped on any firm that would not comply with the
customs routine audit.
 --Anthony
Vargas
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