June 29, 2012

       Fifty five (55) container vans loaded with lumber estimated at P30 million of pesos were seized by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) at Pier 16 North Harbor Manila today.

      On June 27, 2012, the NBI received a request for the confiscation of the load from Davao City allegedly declared as cement, but in truth it is lumber. Said load allegedly was shipped by NMC thru vessels NMC Gen. Geronimo and Lorenzo and scheduled to arrive in Manila by June 28, 2012. The following day, an NBI team proceeded to North Harbor and were informed and the vessels would surely docked at Pier 16, North harbor.

   Verification with the Philippine Port Authority (PPA) at Pier 16 revealed no vessels from Davao bound for Manila is set to arrive that day at 3 a.m. A certification regarding of the none scheduled arrival of the vessels were secured from the PPA main office. The NBI was informed that a vessel from Davao arrived at around 3 a.m. of June 26, 2012. A copy of the Cargo Manifest was requested.

        Upon examination of said cargo manifest, the NBI discovered that 55 container vans coming from Davao City were declared as cement. Subsequently, a written request for the holding and opening of said container vans was done with the customs collector of North Harbor, Office of the DENR, and the PPA North Harbor.

   Thereafter, in the early morning of June 29, 2012, NBI operatives proceeded to Pier 16. In the presence of DENR, PPA and representatives of other government agencies the container vans were opened revealing fully loaded to the brim with "hot lumber".