Congress probes PASG container fee anomaly
CONGRESS will summon on March 16 and 17 the importers and brokers of Seaport and Airport Stakeholders Association Inc. who allegedly attended a closed-door meeting with a top official of the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group to shed light on the alleged “P10,000 per container fee” anomaly.
The committee on good government chaired by Camiguin Rep. Pedro Romualdo is set to subpoena Dennis Lee, Ahan Chong, Baby Reyes, Frank Wong, Manny Santos, David Tan, Edwin Santos, Jeff King, James Ng and Chimen Wong.
Albay Rep. Al Francis Bichara said Undersecretary Antonio Villar, PASG head, met with importers and brokers on Oct. 1, 2007 at the Jumbo Chinese Floating Restaurant, Qing Dao Room at the Philippine International Convention Center in Manila. During the supposed meeting, an alleged “P10,000 per container fee” payment for Villar and PASG was supposedly established.
Bichara said Villar is liable for his questionable performance including his continued disrespect for ignoring the committee’s invitations to appear and shed light on smuggling of luxury vehicles. He said Villar’s resignation was a weak alibi to snub its subpoena.
“Resignation is not an excuse for Villar to ignore our subpoena. He should come out to answer directly what he had imputed against me and clear things before a proper venue,” Bichara noted.
Bichara also questioned the poor performance of Villar and his low revenue collection of P13 million in 2007. In a congressional inquiry, Customs Deputy Commissioner Reynaldo Umali denied PASG generated P6.7-billion in revenues in 2007.
“We have figures on record, Mr. Chairman (Romualdo). Based on a study of articles and documents we gathered for the apprehension of PASG, we were able to identify that it only generated P13 million only based on the credential values of the importers,” Umali noted.
Meanwhile, Zambales Rep. Mitos Magsaysay accused PASG of duplicating functions.
“The existence of PASG has triggered confusion since the Bureau of Customs’ anti-smuggling units like Enforcement and Intelligence Group, Enforcement Security Services and Customs Intelligence and Investigation Services were created to counter smuggling,” Magsaysay said.
Aside from BoC, other units reportedly duplicating PASG functions are the PNP-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and Task Force Aduana composed of military, maritime and civilian agents. Journal Online
The committee on good government chaired by Camiguin Rep. Pedro Romualdo is set to subpoena Dennis Lee, Ahan Chong, Baby Reyes, Frank Wong, Manny Santos, David Tan, Edwin Santos, Jeff King, James Ng and Chimen Wong.
Albay Rep. Al Francis Bichara said Undersecretary Antonio Villar, PASG head, met with importers and brokers on Oct. 1, 2007 at the Jumbo Chinese Floating Restaurant, Qing Dao Room at the Philippine International Convention Center in Manila. During the supposed meeting, an alleged “P10,000 per container fee” payment for Villar and PASG was supposedly established.
Bichara said Villar is liable for his questionable performance including his continued disrespect for ignoring the committee’s invitations to appear and shed light on smuggling of luxury vehicles. He said Villar’s resignation was a weak alibi to snub its subpoena.
“Resignation is not an excuse for Villar to ignore our subpoena. He should come out to answer directly what he had imputed against me and clear things before a proper venue,” Bichara noted.
Bichara also questioned the poor performance of Villar and his low revenue collection of P13 million in 2007. In a congressional inquiry, Customs Deputy Commissioner Reynaldo Umali denied PASG generated P6.7-billion in revenues in 2007.
“We have figures on record, Mr. Chairman (Romualdo). Based on a study of articles and documents we gathered for the apprehension of PASG, we were able to identify that it only generated P13 million only based on the credential values of the importers,” Umali noted.
Meanwhile, Zambales Rep. Mitos Magsaysay accused PASG of duplicating functions.
“The existence of PASG has triggered confusion since the Bureau of Customs’ anti-smuggling units like Enforcement and Intelligence Group, Enforcement Security Services and Customs Intelligence and Investigation Services were created to counter smuggling,” Magsaysay said.
Aside from BoC, other units reportedly duplicating PASG functions are the PNP-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and Task Force Aduana composed of military, maritime and civilian agents. Journal Online
posted by OlongapoCity Zambales at
3:25 PM
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