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Fixing that which is not broken
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Posted on Sep 27 2004
This is regarding Marianas Variety’s Sept. 8, 2004 article, “Adriano defends lawmaker in alleged smuggling.”
According to the article, the Senate president was asking that cargo bound for Tinian be inspected on Tinian only, the final port of destination; however, Saipan is the first port of entry for the CNMI.
By law, any container can be opened by Customs at the last port of destination. For U.S. Customs purposes, Saipan is considered as the CNMI’s last port of destination. For example, containers bound for the Marianas from the west coast via Guam are not opened on Guam; they are opened in the Commonwealth. But containers from the Far East come directly to the Commonwealth so the first port of entry is Saipan. Containers that arrive on Saipan are inspected on a random basis and this includes all cargo, whether the final destination is Saipan, Tinian or Rota, whether it comes from the West Coast or Far East.
As a result of this incident, some lawmakers want to linker with the law—yet again—and “fix” what is not broken.
There is no compelling reason to change the law, open more Customs offices and adopt special rules.
What I think we need to do here is simply let the Customs officers do their job.
Juan S. Tenorio
fax
