Sienna Romero, assistant manager of Cargohaus- Clark, confirmed that Lina remains recognized as the owner of the warehouse in this freeport. She declined to give more details and referred queries to her manager Darwin Malinit who was not immediately available.
The warehouse is known to be owned by the Lina Group of Companies chaired by the Customs commissioner, although he claimed to have divested himself of interest in the firm after his appointment as head of the Bureau of Customs (BoC).
“There is conflict of interest in this case, but it is something that really benefits us investors at Clark. The benefits were what we had wanted,” said a member of the Clark Investors and Locators Association (CILA) who asked not to be quoted.
During his visit here as guest of the CILA last July, Lina granted special privileges to investors in this freeport, including exemption from profile registration and the conduct of x-ray of importations here instead of in Manila.
This, even as Lina assured Clark investors of a “rationalized policy on bring in and bring out permits via full automation of processing.” Lina said doing x-ray inspections of incoming shipments of Clark investors would decongest the Manila port.
He also ordered the exemption of Clark locators from BoC’s Client Profile Registration System (CPRS).
Lina said Clark investors need not apply under BOC’s registration system. Instead, the Certificate of Registration or Tax Exemption would be issued only by the stateowned Clark Development Corp. (CDC).
Lina also plans to remove underguarding fee on import and export shipments, as well as fee bonds on imports.
Cargohaus, Inc. has also been operating at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport and other areas in the country for years now.
The website of his firm cargohaus.com boasted that Cargohaus could “satisfy the ever growing demands of importers we bring our clients only the latest innovations present in our industry,” noting that this was made possible “by utilizing our warehousing operations system which is directly linked to the Bureau of Customs.”
Cargohaus, Inc. formerly called U-Warehouse, Inc., was established and incorporated on October 11, 1988 in Pasay City. On April 1, 1992, it was designated as Customs Bonded Warehouse No. 125 under NAIA Customs Memorandum No. 09-92.
While it also established in Clark earlier, Cargohaus inaugurated its modern warehouse in this freeport on July 19, 2013. The warehouse was purported to be the “newest and most modern warehouse in Clark freeport.”
Then Clark International Airport Corporation President-CEO Victor Jose Luciano and Clark Development Corporation president Art Tugade praised the Lina Group for its “daring” investments at Clark in the past two decades.
The Lina Group of Companies invested at Clark even while the freeport was still mostly covered with ashfall from Mt. Pinatubo’s eruption in 1991.
A statement issued during the inauguration said “the Cargohaus Clark Warehouse, with a span of 1,800 square meters that includes office space, provides easy access to customers with its proximity to the Clark International Airport (10 meters from the terminal and 150 meters from the ramp).”
“The warehouse is equipped with the latest X-Ray machine technology, capable to scan big volume packages up to the size of 1.4 meters by 1.7 meters. It is also boosted by a leveler and a scissors lift with an automatic weighing scale that can print actual shipment weight. The warehouse also provides room for cold storage, chiller, and covered with full security system,” the statement also said.
