BIR shutters warehouses with hoarded rice
THE Bureau of Internal Revenue has shut down five warehouses in Guiguinto, Bulacan containing more than 400,000 50-kilogram sacks of hoarded rice.
The unregistered storage facilities were leased to different companies but were not registered and had to be shuttered, Internal Revenue Deputy Commissioner Arnel SD. Guballa told reporters yesterday.
The sacks of rice were estimated at “hundreds of millions of pesos” worth per warehouse, he said, adding that the prices of commercial rice will be affected due to oversupply if these were released to the market.
These will be considered smuggled if no import documents are produced, he said.
The sacks of rice were labeled as products imported from Vietnam and Myanmar, according to Finance Assistant Secretary Antonio Joselito G . Lambino II.
Internal Revenue agents also found soya milk products from China.
The five warehouses were owned by Cagayan Corn Products Corp., Pacific Rim Transport and Logistics Inc., UPFC Logistics Corp., AAI Logistics Cargo Express, Inc. and Jcomp Trading and Distribution, the agency said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Mr. Guballa said the bureau was still studying how to tax the e-commerce industry as requested by the Finance department. — Beatrice M. Laforga
