Lapeña: I helped uncover illegal release of questioned containers

MANILA, Philippines — Former Customs chief Isidro Lapeña, and now Technical Education and Skills Development Authority director general, defended his actions in the discovery of the 105 shipping containers that went missing and are believed to have contained undervalued goods.

Lapeña said in a statement that his issuance of 22 alert orders was significant in the discovery of the unlawful release of the 105 containers.

Had he not issued the alert orders, the former Customs chief said, “this modus would have continued unnoticed.”

"Modus", Latin for manner or method, is used in the Philippines to refer to scams and illegal schemes.

“Under my watch, this modus was uncovered. It was under my watch that we discovered 105 containers illegally released from the terminal, through the use of fake documents,” he added.

“In fact, I have filed criminal cases against 53 involved personalities and I referred to (Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission) the case of Port of Manila district collector at the time for failure to observe relevant procedures that led to the unauthorized release of the said shipments,” Lapeña also said.

Lapeña is facing a graft and administrative complaint before the Department of Justice.

The case stemmed from the supposed release, without the required examination, by the Asian Terminal Inc. (ATI) of the containers despite an alert order.

ATI reportedly released the shipments basing on just a “transmittal memoranda.”

The NBI, which investigated the release of the contraband, said that Lapeña “interposed no objection” to the release of the said shipments to the consignee in the Port of Cebu “despite being the subject of the continuing alert and the absence of any documents to support or be the basis of its release.”

The TESDA head also lamented how the NBI closed its investigation without getting any statement from him.

He also hit the investigating arm of the DOJ for failing to “unmask the rail people behind the illegal scheme.”

The NBI filed their complaints before the Justice department on Monday.

State prosecutors may hold a preliminary investigation into the case and allow him to file his counter-affidavit to defend himself against the allegations.