By Betheena Kae Unite
Various forfeited goods, including rice, were donated anew by the Bureau of Customs to those affected by typhoon “Ompong.”
(ALI VICOY/ MANILA BULLETIN)
Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapeña said the bureau’s Enforcement and Security Service (ESS) donated 374 sacks of rice and 5,040 canned goods, which were previously seized and were already subjected to forfeiture proceedings.
“To help our kababayan who were affected by the recent calamity that devastated several areas in Northern Luzon, the Bureau of Customs decided to provide our fellow-Filipinos with humanitarian aid through the DSWD (Department of Social welfare and Development),” Lapeña said during the turnover of the goods to the DSWD .
Last week, the Manila International Container Port (MICP) also extended their help by giving 109 packages of emergency survival blankets, 153 packages of face masks, 350 boxes of bedsheets, blankets, and towels, and 1,332 boxes of brand-new clothes.
The bureau’s Disaster Relief Team, headed by Deputy Commissioner Edward James DyBuco, in coordination with the Auction and Cargo Disposal Division (ACDD) of the MICP, identified said goods eligible for donation and were considered viable for donation by the DSWD.
Lapeña said the donated goods were declared abandoned for lack of interest on the part of the consignee and were deemed property of the government on January 14 and 15, 2018.
Likewise, the Port of Cebu donated 14 containers of rice which were forfeited in favor of the government. The Port of Zamboanga donated 6,921 bags of glutinous rice to DSWD for distribution to Ompong victims.
Under Section 1141 of the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act, “goods subject to disposition may be donated to another government agency or declared for official use of the Bureau, after approval of the Secretary of Finance, or sold at a public auction within thirty (30) days after a ten (10)-day notice posted at a public place at the port where the goods are located and published electronically or in a newspaper of general circulation.
The series of donations were made after Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III asked the bureau to release seized and forfeited rice and goods and distribute them to typhoon victims.