Cement group denies claiming Bonjourno Trading is a top smuggler

The Cement Manufacturers Association of the Philippines (CEMAP) on Thursday denied informing the Bureau of Customs that Bonjourno Trading, the cement firm managed by Panfilo "Pampi" Lacson Jr., was the number one smuggler of cement in the country.

CEMAP President Ernesto M. Ordoñez told GMA News Online he submitted a report to outgoing Customs Commissioner Nicanor E. Faeldon indicating that the Bonjourno had undervalued shipments, but he did not say that Bonjourno was a "smuggler."

"It's his conclusion based on my report ... The determination of what's smuggling or not, we have no right. I just did what he asked me to do," Ordoñez said.

In a press conference earlier Thursday, Faeldon told reporters to ask CEMAP about his claim that Bonjourno was a top smuggler of cement.

"In that report, we stated that the one that had the most imports which were reporting way below the standard rate was Bonjourno," Ordoñez said.

Ordoñez said Bonjourno had declared freight costs lower than $10 per metric ton, which was "way below" the $16 to $20 per metric ton approved by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

The report, which was submitted to Faeldon in July, included data during the term of former BOC Commissioner Alberto Lina.

"The Bureau of Customs memorandum of agreement said Customs would like the help of the private sector to look at smuggling. We were given the data on cement importation," Ordoñez said.

"We saw the data and we reported the data to the Bureau of Customs," he added.

But Ordoñez made it that CEMAP did not identify Bonjourno as a "smuggler."

He said he made the report, but it was the bureau that used smuggling. "Ang ayaw ko lang, walang nangyari maski ano. Biro mo ano, all my findings are no good?" he said.

"My sadness is that I gave this to him and up to now, nobody has been charged officially," he added. — VDS/JST, GMA News