39 rice importers purged from BOC list

Thirty-nine rice importers, including at least 16 cooperatives, have been de-listed by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) as part of its “pre-emptive measure” against rice smuggling. The latest move by the BOC's Interim Customs Accreditation and Registration unit has brought to 170 the total number of de-listed rice importers and brokers—the highest in the agency's history. "The BOC has nothing to do with the issuance of rice importation quota allocations as this is the function of the National Food Authority. But on our end, as a pre-emptive measure to stop rice smuggling, we are purging our list of importers/companies that may have been accredited earlier by the BOC as a general merchandise importer upon compliance of minimum requirements, but were given large rice importation allocation quota by the NFA," Customs commissioner Ruffy Biazon said Tuesday. Of the 39 de-listed rice importers, 16 were cooperatives that had little or no track record at all, the BOC said. The rest were small trading companies that only complied with the BOC's minimum accreditation requirements. During a Senate inquiry on the P500-million rice smuggling attempt at the Subic Freeport Zone last year, senators uncovered that non-government organizations and cooperatives with little track record were given large rice importation allocation quotas by the NFA. — KBK, GMA News