A grossly undervalued shipment of a drilling rig from China was recently intercepted at the Port of Cebu, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) said Thursday, March 18.

The release of the shipment of a brand new 2020 model KR165C rotary drilling rig was prevented on March 4 after its importation documents were found to have been falsified.

“The averted smuggling attempt would have cost the government a loss of over P1.3 million in customs duties and taxes,” Port of Cebu acting District Collector Charlito Martin R. Mendoza said.

Investigation showed that the shipment, which was consigned to JLINKS Marketing, was valued at $25,600 and was supported with load port survey report (LPSR) submitted by the representatives of the consignee.

Based on the declared value, the total payable duties and taxes was only pegged at P159,390.

However, a verification conducted by the customs examiner and appraiser discovered that the LPSR submitted by the consignee’s representatives was falsified.

It was revealed that the shipment’s true value was $247,000 with duties and taxes supposed to reach P1,472,774.

“The discrepancy in value resulted in a staggering difference of over 89 percent in customs duties and taxes,” Mendoza said.

A warrant of seizure and detention was later issued against the entire shipment after finding probable cause for violation of Section 1113 (F) and (L) (3), (4), and (5) in relation to Section 1400 of the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act or CMTA.

With this, Mendoza warned unscrupulous importers and their representatives that their schemes would eventually be foiled since the “port’s examiners and appraisers are thorough in the examination of the genuineness and veracity of importation documents.”