NBI summons 4 customs officials

The Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) should release its official findings, if any, on the cause of death of children covered by the Dengvaxia vaccine probe.

The PAO has not substantiated its claim that the deaths were caused by the vaccine although a study conducted by forensic experts at the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital says otherwise.

The credibility of Dr. Erwin Erfe, PAO’s forensic expert, took a severe blow as the American college of forensic medicine where he supposedly studied had been discredited.

———— The United States remains the country most trusted by Filipinos while China is the least trusted, according to a Social Weather Stations survey.

That’s because most of us still suffer from colonial mentality: White people are better, more educated, prettier, handsomer, etc.

We were under the rule of the convent for 300 years and Hollywood for 50 years.

On the other hand, China never invaded us.

How paradoxical that we trust our former oppressors but mistrust our longtime friends! The National Bureau of Investigation has summoned four customs officials to question them about the recent release of a shipment containing misdeclared and highly dutiable goods.

Those summoned were Deputy Commissioner Noel Prudente of the Management Information System and Technology; collector Balmyrson Valdez of the Manila International Container Port (MICP); Jaybee Cometa, chief of the Risk Management Office; and Evelyn Rivera, chief of the Formal Entry Division of MICP.

The papers for the shipment, which was seized by NBI agents outside the customs zone, had passed through their desks.

Ironically, one of them has been behind the withholding of shipments which has clogged Manila ports.

Withholding the release of shipments, called by customs insiders “on alert status,” can lead to huge losses every day for importers.

For their shipments to be released without undergoing inspection, some pay huge amounts to unscrupulous customs personnel.

The most notorious office at the Bureau of Customs (BOC) is the X-ray unit through which shipments pass before being released. Ariel Nepomuceno, one of the few honest officials at the BOC, has resigned from his post to concentrate on a family business.

Nepomuceno was deputy customs commissioner for enforcement during Nicanor Faeldon’s time. He was demoted to assistant commissioner for post clearance audit when Lapeña took over as customs chief.

He was the only top customs official who was not mentioned by BOC broker Mark Ruben Taguba II as being on the take during a Senate hearing on the P6.4-billion “shabu” (crystal meth) smuggling.