Following a baffling twist that ended in the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) denial of an injunction plea lodged by Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation, the Bureau of Customs (BoC) announced that it will already effect seizure of the incoming catalytic cracked gasoline (CCG) imports of the oil firm starting Wednesday (Feruary 10).

“It is shown in a manifest that they have shipments arriving this February 10. We can start implementing Section 1508 of the Tariff and Customs Code, following the Court order,” BoC Commissioner Napoleon Morales said.

Prior to the Court’s ruling, Shell already advanced word that the “natural outcome” of such turn of events will be a closure of its refinery, hence, jeopardizing not only the country’s oil supply flow but also jobs and opportunities for its employees and dealers.

To enforce that provision in the tax policy would entail that the Customs bureau may seize the incoming CCG and light catalytic cracked gasoline (LCCG) imports of Pilipinas Shell.

Shell legal counsel John Balisnomo concurred that “the split in the CTA can result in the unlawful confiscation of PSPCs importations by the BoC. This will have dire consequences not only for PSPC but for the national economy.”

He thus indicated that this will “compel us to exhaust all available legal remedies. We will not stop until we are able to stop these oppressive measures.”

It was Pilipinas Shell’s law firm CVC, which sent a press statement to the media, indicating the junking of their petition for injunction via a split decision rendered by the Court’s magistrates.

“The Court of Tax Appeals, in a Resolution issued Tuesday (February 9), was split on whether to issue the suspension order sought by Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation to bar the seizure of its importations by the Bureau of Customs (BoC),” the CVC law firm said. This is in reference to Shell’s move disputing the assessment of some P7.34 billion tax arrears, which was levied by the BoC on the oil company’s CCG and LCCG imports covering the periods from 2004 to 2009.

Of the four-page resolution issued by the CTA, the CVC statement indicated that Justices Erlinda Uy and Esperanza Fabon-Victorino, sided with the State’s need for additional funds; while Presiding Justice Ernesto Acosta rendered a 13-page dissenting opinion.

“The damage in [PSPC’s] property rights, must in the meantime, take a back seat to the paramount need of the State for funds to sustain governmental functions. Compared to the damage to the State, which may be caused by reduced financial resources, the damage to [PSPC] is negligible,” the Court resolution has stated.