Lacson says Faeldon, other Customs officials received ‘tara’

Senator Panfilo Lacson on Wednesday named several Customs officials who allegedly received payola, including former Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon.

In his privilege speech, Lacson said the Bureau of Customs (BOC) has become a “haven” for crooks so much so that it can give the “Mafia stiff competition.”

“The Bureau of Customs is heaven - a heaven that is a haven for crooks, criminals, malefactors, and Faeldons… sorry, I meant felons,” he said.

Faeldon, Lacson said, was “eaten by the system” of corruption inside his bureau, instead of fighting it.

“Unfortunately, instead of going against the system, siya ang kinain ng sistema, thereby effectively tolerating and even promoting the impunity of corruption,” he said.

Lacson said Faeldon, who has since been replaced by PDEA chief Isidro Lapeña, “should have stood firm” even if he was working alone to fight corruption.

Faeldon’s office supposedly receives P5,000 to P10,000 in payola per container.

In a statement, Faeldon denied receiving ‘tara.’

“I have not asked anybody to collect tara for me nor have I accepted any tara from anybody,” Faeldon said in a text message to GMA News Online.

Other Customs execs

Apart from Faeldon, Lacson also named Deputy Commissioners Teddy Raval, Ariel Nepomuceno, Gerardo Gambala, Natalio Ecarma III, and Edward James Dy Buco, Director Neil Estrella of the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service, Director Milo Maestrecampo of the Import and Assessment Service, and Larribert Hilario of the Risk Management Office, among others.

Maestrecampo, Estrella, and Hilario have all been tagged to be involved in the smuggling of P6.4 billion worth of shabu from China. The said shipment was seized by the BOC days after it passed through its green lane.

Both Maestrecampo and Estrella have submitted their courtesy resignations.

Lacson further alleged that the standard tara for each office or division are as follows:

• P5,000 to P10,000 for Command Center (COMMCEN)
• P1,000 to P3,000 for the Assessment Operations Coordinating Group (AOCG)
• P1,500 to P3,000 for the Intelligence Group (IG)
• P3,000 to P10,000 for CIIS CENTRAL
• P500 to P1,000 for CIIS Director’s Office
• P1,000 to P3,000 for the Intellectual Property Rights Division (IPRD)
• P1,000 to P2,000 for the Accounts Management Office (AMO)
• P1,000 to P3,000 for the Import and Assessment Service (IAS)

Lacson also cited information from an “unimpeachable source” that one of the “prominent” Customs officials he named received a total amount of P5.109 million. Lacson did not name who the Customs official was.

Players, collectors

The senator also named bribe givers, bag men, and collectors at the Bureau of BOC based on “vetted and cross-matched” lists provided to his office.

According to Lacson, 40 percent of the total 15,000 to 16,000 containers that are transacted for release at the Manila International Container Port (MICP) and Port of Manila (POM) weekly or 6,000 to 6,400 containers are “with tara” or bribes.

The so-called “big players” include the Davao Group, which Customs fixer Mark Taguba earlier disclosed in the ongoing Senate probe on the P6.4-billion shabu shipment.

“Sila ang mga halos naghahari o namamayagpag sa pagpapalabas ng mga kargamento sa Customs,” Lacson said.

The other four big players are David Tan, Manny Santos, Teves Group, and Kimberly Gamboa.

Aside from Taguba, Lacson’s list of alleged bribe givers included 43 others.

Bagmen meanwhile included 21 names, like that of Hilario, and Nanie Koh of IAS, as well as Lorna Rosario, all of whom have faced the Senate inquiry.

For MICP and POM, several amounts are given as bribes from section heads, appraisers and examiners down to people who are in charge of scanning the shipments.

“The “Tara” System, Mr. President, shows that there is a systemic 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. — RSJ, GMA News