Bureau of Customs donates seized laptops to DepEd

Almost 4,000 laptops seized by the the Bureau of Customs will be donated to the Department of Education (DepEd) to aid students and teachers in public elementary and high schools nationwide.

In December 2011, the Bureau of Customs seized a total of 3,915 entry-level ASUS laptops from consignee ORZA Marketing for undervaluation and misdeclaration. Although the plan to donate the said laptops to DepEd was already approved in 2012, it took time to waive the storage, demurrage, and other port charges.

Section 2503 of the Tariffs and Customs Code of the Philippines mandates the outright seizure and forfeiture in favor of the government of goods that show a discrepancy between what an importer declared and what was found by customs examiners of over 30 percent in terms of value, volume or weight.

The ASUS laptops will be given to DepEd to support its Computer Training and Educators and Resource for Students (CompuTERS) Program which aims to bring access to computer technology to more than 20 million learners and more than 600,000 teachers across 46,603 elementary and secondary schools in the country.

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