P6.4-B illegal drug shipment probe: Corruption at BoC from ‘up to down’

ALLEGATIONS OF corruption at the Bureau of Customs (BoC), once cited by President Rodrigo R. Duterte as one of the top three dirtiest government agencies, came to the fore yesterday as the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee conducted a probe on the shipment of P6.4 billion worth of illegal drug shabu (methamphetamine) that was able to pass through customs last May.

Senator Richard J. Gordon, committee chair, said it was clear that “there is corruption and incompetence within the customs... and we’re nearer to identifying them,” adding that it involves officials from “up to down.”

The investigation showed that the shipment of 604 kilos of illegal drugs was able to go through customs when the BoC Risk Management Office (RMO) classified it under the green lane channel, which allows imports to pass through without inspection.

BoC officer Gerardo O. Gambala explained during the inquiry that if it is in the “green lane... (the import) immediately goes to processing.”

Senator Franklin M. Drilon questioned how the consignee of the shipment, EMT Trading with Eirene Mae Agustino Tatad as proprietor, was able to go through the green lane channel when the company was a first time importer.

Mr. Gambala said that it may have been “because they failed to input the data.”

Senator Panfilo M. Lacson, Sr., however, pointed out that of EMT Trading’s 524 entries, 484 shipments were classified under the green lane.

EMT’s Tatad denied knowing about the illegal drugs contained in the shipment.

MISSING

BoC Commissioner Nicanor E. Faeldon, for his part, said he has already suspended the head of RMO, Larribert T. Hilario.

Mr. Hilario has gone missing, according to Mr. Faeldon.

Mr. Lacson, on the other hand, said there have been reports that Mr. Hilario can still be seen at the BoC.

Mr. Lacson also pointed out that the processing fee paid for the shipment containing the illegal drugs was only “P40,000 plus.” He further stated that under Mr. Faeldon’s term, the processing fee per container has gone down to P40,000 from the previous P120,000- P180,000.

Mr. Faeldon defended that “the process is not in the commissioner’s office but it is individually appraised in different ports that these commodities are landed. So I will direct this question to be answered to the collectors who have appraised this.”

The investigation also revealed that EMT Trading got involved with the shipment through a broker named Mark Ruben G. Taguba II, who claimed that he was contacted by a certain Kenneth Dong on behalf of Richard Tan, who owns the company Hong Fei.

According to Mr. Taguba, Mr. Tan is actually the man behind the shipment.

Before yesterday’s committee investigation ended, Mr. Taguba asked for an executive session.

After the closed-door meeting, Mr. Gordon asked for security protection for Mr. Taguba, although the senator stressed that he is not buying the witness’ statements “hook, line and sinker.”

“He could be drowning and he could be saying this. Or he could be telling the truth,” Mr. Gordon said.

The investigation resumes on Aug. 8, with the committee issuing subpoenas to Messrs. Hilario, Tan and Dong. —