BOC CEBU CHIEF IN ‘TARA’ LIST

Lacson

Lacson claims Faeldon leads pack of officials, employees involved in ‘systematic’ corruption in BOC

The Customs collector in Cebu is allegedly included in the long list of Bureau of Customs (BOC) personnel who received bribes from smugglers.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson in a privilege speech on Wednesday identified Cebu Customs Collector Elvira Cruz as among the BOC officials and employees receiving payola through a “Tara” system that has been operating at and corrupting the agency for a long time.

Cebu Daily News tried but failed to reach Cruz on the phone. A text message sent to her was also left unanswered.

Leading the pack was no less than former BOC chief Nicanor Faeldon who was eaten up by the system after a year in office, Lacson alleged.

With Faeldon were his five deputy commissioners: Teddy Raval of the Intelligence Group (IG), Ariel Nepomuceno of the Enforcement Group (EG), Gerardo Gambala of the Command Center, Natalio Ecarma III of the Revenue Collection Monitoring Group, and Edward James Dy Buco of Assessment and Operations Coordination Group.

“Hell is empty and all the devils are at the BOC,” Lacson said, paraphrasing Shakespeare’s “Hell is empty and all the devils are here.”

“And for the devils, the BOC is heaven, a heaven that is a haven for crooks, criminals, malefactors and Faeldons — sorry, I meant ‘felons,’” the senator said.

As he had promised earlier, Lacson delivered a privilege speech on the floor identifying the alleged bribe givers, collectors/bagmen, as well as the recipients at the BOC in a “Tara” list he compiled and had “carefully vetted and cross-matched.”

The senator said a “prominent” Customs official, whom he did not name, earned P5,109,000 from May 16 to June 28 alone.

“The Tara system, Mr. President, shows that there is a systematic corruption in the bureau. In fact, with almost every office and official receiving their share of Tara, the bureau can give the Mafia stiff competition,” Lacson said.

President Duterte announced that he had replaced Faeldon with Isidro Lapeña, head of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.

Lacson said that when Faeldon took over the BOC at the start of the Duterte administration in July last year, he received a “welcome gift” of a whopping P100 million from the agency.

“Loud whispers in the four corners of the BOC compound tell of a 100-million-peso ‘pasalubong’ to the newly-installed Commissioner, a quarter of which, or P25 million, was retained as a finder’s fee by his middleman named Joel Teves,” Lacson said in a privilege speech titled “Kita kita (sa Customs).”

Teves was among the 44 alleged bribe givers or players that Lacson identified at the BOC.

But the controversy of the P6.4-billion shabu shipment that got past the BOC and ended up in a warehouse in Valenzuela City unfolded a story that Lacson said “sounds more like the inspiration behind the hit movie title, Kita Kita (I Can See You).”

He said it could be seen that the shipment was “smuggled under the noses or through the indispensable participation of Customs officials.”

“We can see the incomes of several Customs officials,” Lacson said, pointing out that during the ongoing inquiry on the controversy by the Senate blue ribbon committee, “fixer” Mark Taguba named Customs officers and bagmen he paid but he “did not spill all the beans.”

He recalled that during the hearing, Faeldon said he was aware of the Tara system or payola system at the BOC, but he could not investigate it because he was only able to form an investigative team six months later.

Having the backing of President Duterte, Faeldon should have started to clean up the agency, said Lacson.

Instead, he added, Faeldon ended up eaten by the system, “thereby effectively tolerating and even promoting the impunity of corruption.”

“How can we stop the importation of illegal drugs at the BOC if the graft activities of its officials and personnel and the corrupt system persist in the seaports and airports?” Lacson asked.

The senator said his office was contacted by Customs officials, employees, brokers and even a civic-minded individual who had been gathering information on the Tara system at the BOC or how much an office or an official would get in payoff per container.

* The standard tara of P19,000 to P23,000 is paid to Customs officials in the Central Office per container;

* Manila International Container Port (MICP) officials and employees collect payola of P14,700 to P23,700 for 40-foot containers or a total tara paid for each container is from P33,700 to P68,700;

* For a 40-ft container for the Port of Manila (POM), Customs officials and employees collect P15,700 to P26,700 or the total tara ranged from P34,700 to P71,700;

* For a 20-ft container, an additional P12,200 to P20,700 tara for Customs officials and employees in the MICP is added to the tara or a total tara for each 20-ft container amounting to P31,200 to P65,700;

* For POM, Customs officials and employees get P13,200 to P23,700 or a total tara for a 20-ft container ranging from P32,200 to P68,700.

“From this, the share of each office or person within the bureau can range from a low of P200 to a high of P15,000 per container. Believe it or not, officials from the top offices of the bureau down to those who monitor the ‘gates’ and x-ray have their share in the tara,” Lacson said.

In his list, the 44 bribe givers at BOC include Taguba and his father Ruben, David Tan, Gerry Yap and Kimberly Gamboa.

Lacson listed 21 names of collectors/bagmen. These included lawyer Christopher Bolastig through Russel and Estrella and lawyer Genefielle Lagmay for the Office of the Commissioner, as well as Naniw Koh for Import and Assessment Service, and a Lorna Rosario.

Lacson also listed down the standard tara for BOC offices; and these included P5,000 to P10,000 for the Office of the Commissioner, Command Center and AOCG, among others.

For MICP and POM, section heads, appraisers and examiners for the formal division get P9,000 to P15,000.

Lacson also identified the “big players” at the BOC whom he said were lording over the agency in terms of having their shipment released easily.
These big players bring in 390 to 490 containers per day or 1,950 to 2,450 containers weekly, he said.

These big players include David Tan, who has 100–110 containers; Davao Group (where Taguba belongs), Manny Santos and the Teves Group, all with 80–100 containers; and Kimberly Gamboa, with 50–80 containers.

Lacson said he hoped Lapeña, whom he knew and could vouch for his integrity, would not be eaten up by the system like his predecessor.

“His highest calling at the moment is to descend to the gates of hell and destroy the brazen corruption within the country’s most corrupt agency,” Lacson also said.

During interpellation, Sen. Cynthia Villar said the names in Lacson’s list — David Tan and Manny Santos — were investigated in 2013 by the Senate for rice smuggling, and Lea Cruz for garlic smuggling in 2014.

Lacson expressed hope that President Duterte would not give Faeldon another position in government and hoped senators would keep his exposé in mind as they undertake the tax reform package of the Palace.

Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III said that he and Sen. Gregorio Honasan II met with the President Tuesday night together with Lapeña and that the Chief Executive instructed the incoming Customs chief to “clean (the BOC) up.”

“If someone mention my name, Sara or Paulo, kick them out,” Sotto quoted President Duterte as telling Lapeña.