Taguba: I gave P92M in ‘tara’ to BoC players

CUSTOMS BROKER Mark Taguba II revealed on Monday that he had given a total of P92 million worth of “tara” or grease money to Customs officials and players since he started his business of facilitating shipments out of the Bureau of Customs (BoC) in August 2016.

At the resumption of the Senate hearing on the P6.4 billion worth of shabu smuggling at the BoC, Mr. Taguba said the money he paid for tara came from his clients who wanted their containers to be facilitated out of the Customs office.

Senator Richard J. Gordon, chairman of the blue ribbon committee, had called on the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Office of the Ombudsman to monitor the individuals involved in the tara system at the BoC following Mr. Taguba’s statements.

“Kung nakikinig ang BIR dapat tinitignan nila ang P92 million na binigyan mo [referring to Taguba] ng tara, lahat ng pangalan, kung di-neclare [If the BIR is listening, they should look into the names of recipients of the P92 million if they declared] ,” he said.

“Kung nakikinig ang Ombudsman, dapat nagsisimula nang nagbubuklat ng kanilang kaso [If the Ombudsman is listening, they should start opening their cases],” he added.

Mr. Taguba said he initially wanted to conduct his business cleanly at the BoC but the tara system had prevented him from doing so.

“Araw lang at oras na mapigil ang container, malaki na pong abala at pera. May pera pong katumbas ng delay [ On the day and hour the container is halted, it is already a huge hassle and money. There is money equivalent to the delay],” he said.

Mr. Gordon then asked Mr. Taguba for the breakdown of the recipients of the P92 million worth of tara.

He also believed the Customs broker was deceived by the players pulling the strings at the BoC because in several instances his containers were put under alert status despite his compliance with tara payments.

“Ang tingin ko sa iyo [ referring to Taguba], lahat ng nilapitan mo para mailabas mo dahil neophyte ka pa lang. Ang dami mong matrikulang binayad, niloko ka eh. Bayad ka dito dahil malakas kahit niloloko ka na,” he said. [ I think you were deceived because you were a neophyte. You spent huge amounts of money to those you approached so your shipments would be released. You paid them because they are influential even though you were being deceived.]

Also at the hearing, Mr. Taguba bared call logs, text messages and bank transactions detailing how he gave tara to various Customs officials and players in order to facilitate his shipments out of the BoC. — interaksyon.com