an obvious case of conflict of interest is now the talk of business town. It supposedly involves one of the new appointees to the position of BOC deputy commissioner. He reportedly served as a lawyer for the multinational company that has been facing a P1-billion smuggling case. The company is Coca-Cola Bottlers Philippines, and its case involves some P1 billion in unpaid duties and taxes for alleged “misclassification and undervaluation of sugar premixes and high fructose corn syrup.” Coca-Cola Philippines had 25 separate shipments of imported liquid sugar from March to October 2011, declaring them as something entitled to zero duty and tariff. Enter the Sugar Alliance of the Philippines, an association of sugar cane planters, sugar millers and sugar refiners in the country, claiming to represent some 90 percent of total domestic sugar production. The association filed a case against Coca-Cola Philippines for alleged “misdeclaration” of those sugar imports, and early last year, the BOC ruled that, indeed, Coca-Cola Philippines in effect cheated in those 25 separate shipments. Instead of the zero duty and tariff that Coca-Cola Philippines should have enjoyed for those imports, the BOC ruled that the company should have paid duties of about 38 percent. The BOC made the ruling in April last year, but Coca-Cola Philippines filed an appeal with the bureau. The appeal was brought up to the office of the customs commissioner, which at that time was already occupied by Ruzzano Rufino. The appeal of Coca-Cola Philippines has been pending for about one and a half years now Palace appointed four new deputy commissioners in BOC. Reports said that one of the new appointees is a lawyer named Agaton Teodoro Uvero. He is a senior partner in the GUS law office, or the Gaticales Uvero Sto. Tomas law firm, and reports said he was supposed to become the deputy commissioner for AOCG, or the assessment and operations group.
Posted on: Thu, 03 Oct 2013 03:31:56 +0000
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