Smuggling ring eyed in Subic killings
By Tonette Orejas
Philippine Daily Inquirer
CAMP OLIVAS, Pampanga -- The name of a former Bureau of Customs (BoC) official has surfaced as among the possible suspects in the murders of a businessman and his aide at the Subic Bay Freeport on Friday, reports reaching the Inquirer said.
A former official of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) said the name of the former BoC official has cropped up in talks within the local business circles owing to that official’s supposed business transactions with the slain businessman, Uldarico Tubig.
The victim worked as a broker for several companies selling used vehicles at the freeport.
Accounts by security guard Don Garin, a survivor in the 7 p.m. attack, showed that one of the gunmen was known to be a trusted man of the BoC official, the source said.
Investigators from the Central Luzon police have not yet included the BoC official in the list of suspects.
“We’re still checking on that angle but it’s unlikely because it’s been long that they have not had a transaction,” regional police director Chief Supt. Ismael Rafanan said on Sunday.
SBMA senior deputy director for operations Jose Calimlim said reports showed that Tubig, 45, used to work for the former BoC official. It was not yet clear if the official hired him to work at the BoC or in another business he was known to operate.
The Inquirer had tried contacting the BoC official through his three mobile phones, but these were either turned off or out of coverage on Sunday.
A police investigator said the former BoC official should not be dragged in the case because he is being used as a cover by another set of suspects.
Tubig, according to the investigator, was a victim of a group that has wrestled control in the processing of imported cars through the freeport.
Tubig, described to be “good at moving papers at customs,” was removed and later returned by that group when his replacement proved to be ineffective.
Taxes and duties paid for motor vehicles imported through or bought from companies at the freeport grossed P373.5 million from January to August in 2005, making these the second biggest revenue-earning items after oil for the BoC, a report from the agency showed.
The regional trial court branch 72 in Olongapo City issued on March 10, 2004, an injunction sought by the Motor Vehicles Importers Association against the implementation of Executive Order No. 156.
EO 156, which was issued on Dec. 12, 2002, banned the importation of all types of used motor vehicles, parts and components into Subic as part of a comprehensive industrial policy and directions for the government’s motor vehicle development program.
The RTC ordered the Subic customs collector and the SBMA chair to allow the importation and entry of used motor vehicles, the Land Transportation Office to process the registration of the imported vehicles and “in general, to allow the unimpeded entry and importation of used motor vehicles to the Philippines subject only to the payment of the required customs duties.”
The Court of Appeals in February last year affirmed the RTC decision and declared the EO unconstitutional and illegal.
The CA said only Congress can make such prohibition and it was not consistent with Republic Act No. 7227 or the base conversion and development law of 1992.
The Office of the Solicitor General filed a petition for review with the Supreme Court, where the case is pending.
Philippine Daily Inquirer
CAMP OLIVAS, Pampanga -- The name of a former Bureau of Customs (BoC) official has surfaced as among the possible suspects in the murders of a businessman and his aide at the Subic Bay Freeport on Friday, reports reaching the Inquirer said.
A former official of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) said the name of the former BoC official has cropped up in talks within the local business circles owing to that official’s supposed business transactions with the slain businessman, Uldarico Tubig.
The victim worked as a broker for several companies selling used vehicles at the freeport.
Accounts by security guard Don Garin, a survivor in the 7 p.m. attack, showed that one of the gunmen was known to be a trusted man of the BoC official, the source said.
Investigators from the Central Luzon police have not yet included the BoC official in the list of suspects.
“We’re still checking on that angle but it’s unlikely because it’s been long that they have not had a transaction,” regional police director Chief Supt. Ismael Rafanan said on Sunday.
SBMA senior deputy director for operations Jose Calimlim said reports showed that Tubig, 45, used to work for the former BoC official. It was not yet clear if the official hired him to work at the BoC or in another business he was known to operate.
The Inquirer had tried contacting the BoC official through his three mobile phones, but these were either turned off or out of coverage on Sunday.
A police investigator said the former BoC official should not be dragged in the case because he is being used as a cover by another set of suspects.
Tubig, according to the investigator, was a victim of a group that has wrestled control in the processing of imported cars through the freeport.
Tubig, described to be “good at moving papers at customs,” was removed and later returned by that group when his replacement proved to be ineffective.
Taxes and duties paid for motor vehicles imported through or bought from companies at the freeport grossed P373.5 million from January to August in 2005, making these the second biggest revenue-earning items after oil for the BoC, a report from the agency showed.
The regional trial court branch 72 in Olongapo City issued on March 10, 2004, an injunction sought by the Motor Vehicles Importers Association against the implementation of Executive Order No. 156.
EO 156, which was issued on Dec. 12, 2002, banned the importation of all types of used motor vehicles, parts and components into Subic as part of a comprehensive industrial policy and directions for the government’s motor vehicle development program.
The RTC ordered the Subic customs collector and the SBMA chair to allow the importation and entry of used motor vehicles, the Land Transportation Office to process the registration of the imported vehicles and “in general, to allow the unimpeded entry and importation of used motor vehicles to the Philippines subject only to the payment of the required customs duties.”
The Court of Appeals in February last year affirmed the RTC decision and declared the EO unconstitutional and illegal.
The CA said only Congress can make such prohibition and it was not consistent with Republic Act No. 7227 or the base conversion and development law of 1992.
The Office of the Solicitor General filed a petition for review with the Supreme Court, where the case is pending.
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