ELIAS L. ESPINOZA:

The Bureau of Customs (BOC) should get to the bottom of the P83 million worth of rice smuggled from China, and indict those responsible. Apparently, the people who declared the shipment as ceramic tiles don’t take President Duterte’s warning seriously. The former Davao City mayor did threaten to send rice smugglers to the grave, Espinoza recalls. But not only did they make it appear that the rice is locally produced as shown on the markings on the sacks, they’ve also left BOC officials baffled as to why the shipment was unloaded in Cebu when the consignees are based in Manila. But Espinoza believes BOC officials shouldn’t play naive.

The P83 million worth of rice imported from China that the Bureau of Customs (BOC) Port of Cebu seized recently only shows that even with the stern warning that President Duterte issued against rice smugglers they still exist. When the president was still mayor of Davao City, he threatened to send the rice smugglers to their graves.

Contained in 71 containers, the smuggled sacks of rice were declared as tiles, which have zero tax if imported from China. That’s how ingenious and cheeky the importers are. They will do away with what’s legally due to the government and fatten their wallets while we, consumers, endure the high cost of rice.

The rice smugglers were so brazen-faced they made it appear that the rice was locally produced as shown by the markings on the sacks. Customs officials were even baffled why the consignees were from Ermita and Binondo in Manila but the rice shipment was unloaded in the Cebu port.

Perhaps, the rice smugglers still have connections in the Cebu port that’s why they shipped the rice to Cebu. Unfortunately for the rice smugglers, the BOC is now headed by Commissioner Isidro Lapeña, whom the President Duterte handpicked from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).

Many thought that the consignees of the smuggled rice are from Cebu but used the company based in Binondo and Ermita to hide their identities, if not confuse BOC officials of their true addresses. Even the identity of the broker is fictitious. The address is in Tulic, Argao, Cebu.

The BOC should get to the bottom of this shipment and indict those responsible for the brazen act as this would dent the administration and also the image of President Duterte, who hates rice smugglers to the bone.

The only good thing we could say about this is that the 71 containers did not contain shabu or any other illegal drugs. The suspicion that it might have contraband is valid because the shipment came from China.

BOC officials shouldn’t play naive on why a shipment intended for Manila was unloaded in Cebu. Had the shipment not been seized,, those tons of rice would have been shipped from Cebu to Manila and declared as a local produce. Remember that the bags of rice are locally marked.

I am skeptical of the report that illegal drug traders in Cebu still buy their supply of shabu in Ozamis City, the base of the Parojinog clan. Police raided months ago for illegal drugs some of the Parojinogs. That led to the death of the city mayor and some members of his family.

But coming from the mouth of Ozamis City Police Chief Jovie Espenido, a man who is true to his words and profession, I was stunned. Espenido said his team seized P5 million worth of shabu before it could be shipped to Cebu, I was stunned because despite President Duterte’s iron-fist drive against illegal drugs, trading is still on the go.

According to Espenido, the Parojinogs have relatives in Cebu and the shipment could be intended for them. No malice intended, but did the police in Cebu, particularly the Police Regional Office (PRO) 7, receive any intelligence report about the supposed P5 million shabu shipment from Ozamis City? And who are the consignees, if any, of this huge shabu shipment from Ozamis city? The number of containers containing the sacks of rice smuggled from China that the Bureau of Customs seized recently