GENERAL SANTOS CITY – The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) here has questioned the documents presented by the alleged consignee of the 47,000 bags of imported rice that arrived in the city late last month.
Lawyer Regner Peneza, NBI-Sarangani District Office chief, said that a certain Hazel Rivera already claimed ownership of the cargo shipment several days after it arrived in the city.
“We have a copy of the cargo manifest. The customs collector from Mariveles has reportedly issued documents indicating the importer paid customs duties and other tariffs,” Peneza said on Wednesday.
Peneza did not name the importer but confirmed that consignee Rivera is from General Santos City.
A call at the Bureau of Customs here in General Santos City said the port collector is out of town and is in Davao City.
The shipment came days after the arrival of the rice imported by the city government from Vietnam for relief distribution in the city in response to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.
Mayor Ronnel Rivera however said the shipment now in question is not part of the 288,000 bags of rice ordered by the city government from Vietnam.
He also added that the alleged consignee is not related to their family.
“No idea sa iyaha and sa rice niya,” the city mayor said.(I have no idea of her and her rice shipment)
Sources said the rice shipment reportedly came from Mariveles, Bataan and arrived on May 27, contrary to reports that the ship, M/V Mighty Fortune, only arrived on June 4.
The port captain here reportedly refused docking the said vessel after the ship captain failed to present proper documents for its cargo.
But the consignee said she has already presented documents of the shipment including alleged import permits and payments of customs duties and tariffs to the NBI after she was summoned for investigation.
She added that it was imported from Vietnam by a Manila-based rice trader Kaplag Trading.
Rivera declined to disclose the owner of Kaplag Trading.
NBI-SARDO chief Regner Peneza, however, said he has several questions of the papers presented by Rivera.
“These (papers) raised more questions than answer. Ginawa ko (What I did), I forwarded it to Manila for further investigation,” Peneza disclosed.
A check with the port calls of m/v Mighty Fortune indicated that it arrived at the port of Mariveles in Bataan on May 12. It was its last logged port entry.
It has no official port arrival in General Santos City as the port captain has refused to moor it at the Makar Wharf.
The ship is now anchored at the mouth of Sarangani Bay.
