Who's sabotaging PASG?
By: Jess V. Antiporda - Journal
SHORT of sabotaging the Palace-initiated campaign against smugglers, the Bureau of Customs appears to have thrown a monkey wrench into the operation of the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group to stop it from carrying out the directive of President Macapagal-Arroyo to help raise more Customs revenues and jail Aduana crooks.
Undersecretary Antonio Villar Jr. has complained that on several occasions, the Customs officials had refused and even disregarded the President’s direct order to assist and cooperate with the PASG in eradicating smuggling.
Villar Jr. said that although he is not blaming Commissioner Napoleon Morales for the recent botched operation against suspected smugglers of luxury cars in Metro Manila, he complained that BoC officials took all of two days before releasing the Customs documents he had requested.
“Because of the delay, all the targeted smuggled luxury vehicles had already been replaced with tax-paid local brand cars when we raided the place,” he complained.
Customs insiders had briefed Villar about the “strong possibility that some people in the Office of the Customs Commissioner could have easily tipped off the smugglers.”
“Hindi maganda na bintangan ko na merong Hudas na pumo-protekta sa smugglers dahil may bilin sa amin pati si Secretary Gary Taves na magtulungan kami ni Commissioner Morales upang masugpo ang smuggling at mga katiwaliang nangyayari sa loob ng Aduana,” Villar told the People’s Journal.
“I don’t know what took them so long to give us the requested Customs documents. But even with the explicit instructions from the President we are not really getting any help from Customs,” Villar told media men at the weekly Kapihan ng Bayan forum yesterday.
The PASG chief suggested that Morales discipline some his personnel who are involved in questionable activities.
“We are now in the process of completing evidence against several smuggler and we found out that half of the cases involved fictitious documents. This is the reason why we have requested the BoC to provide us with even photocopies of some Customs documents,” Villar said.
Already tired of waiting for Morales, who seems to be “freezing the ball,” Villar had decided to seek the help of Deputy Commissioner Celso Templo, who is in charge of the Intelligence and Enforcement Group (IEG).
Last week, PASG and NBI operatives raided 22 Customs bodegas inside the old PNR compound in Tondo, Manila, where government agents also arrested 22 undocumented aliens hiding inside the warehouses containing suspected smuggled goods from Customs.
Villar gave the bodega operators 72 hours to present Customs tax receipts and other documents showing that the goods were legally imported into the country.
Reports said that the 22 Tondo bodegas were the same Customs-bonded warehouses raided by Morales and his Customs policemen last year. Customs insiders said that if the report was correct, how come Morales failed to do his job by closing down the smuggler’s bodegas?
Customs insiders also claimed that the same bodegas are protected by “Super Mario,” said to be the bagman of a crooked Customs official
SHORT of sabotaging the Palace-initiated campaign against smugglers, the Bureau of Customs appears to have thrown a monkey wrench into the operation of the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group to stop it from carrying out the directive of President Macapagal-Arroyo to help raise more Customs revenues and jail Aduana crooks.
Undersecretary Antonio Villar Jr. has complained that on several occasions, the Customs officials had refused and even disregarded the President’s direct order to assist and cooperate with the PASG in eradicating smuggling.
Villar Jr. said that although he is not blaming Commissioner Napoleon Morales for the recent botched operation against suspected smugglers of luxury cars in Metro Manila, he complained that BoC officials took all of two days before releasing the Customs documents he had requested.
“Because of the delay, all the targeted smuggled luxury vehicles had already been replaced with tax-paid local brand cars when we raided the place,” he complained.
Customs insiders had briefed Villar about the “strong possibility that some people in the Office of the Customs Commissioner could have easily tipped off the smugglers.”
“Hindi maganda na bintangan ko na merong Hudas na pumo-protekta sa smugglers dahil may bilin sa amin pati si Secretary Gary Taves na magtulungan kami ni Commissioner Morales upang masugpo ang smuggling at mga katiwaliang nangyayari sa loob ng Aduana,” Villar told the People’s Journal.
“I don’t know what took them so long to give us the requested Customs documents. But even with the explicit instructions from the President we are not really getting any help from Customs,” Villar told media men at the weekly Kapihan ng Bayan forum yesterday.
The PASG chief suggested that Morales discipline some his personnel who are involved in questionable activities.
“We are now in the process of completing evidence against several smuggler and we found out that half of the cases involved fictitious documents. This is the reason why we have requested the BoC to provide us with even photocopies of some Customs documents,” Villar said.
Already tired of waiting for Morales, who seems to be “freezing the ball,” Villar had decided to seek the help of Deputy Commissioner Celso Templo, who is in charge of the Intelligence and Enforcement Group (IEG).
Last week, PASG and NBI operatives raided 22 Customs bodegas inside the old PNR compound in Tondo, Manila, where government agents also arrested 22 undocumented aliens hiding inside the warehouses containing suspected smuggled goods from Customs.
Villar gave the bodega operators 72 hours to present Customs tax receipts and other documents showing that the goods were legally imported into the country.
Reports said that the 22 Tondo bodegas were the same Customs-bonded warehouses raided by Morales and his Customs policemen last year. Customs insiders said that if the report was correct, how come Morales failed to do his job by closing down the smuggler’s bodegas?
Customs insiders also claimed that the same bodegas are protected by “Super Mario,” said to be the bagman of a crooked Customs official
posted by OlongapoCity Zambales at
6:08 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home