Faeldon links Lacson's son to smuggling

Former Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon on Thursday lambasted Senator Panfilo Lacson for naming him as among the corrupt officials in Customs when it is his son who is allegedly involved in big-time smuggling.

Lacson's son, Panfilo "Pampi" Lacson Jr., allegedly owned the undervalued (by at least 50-percent)cement shipments Faeldon said he and his appointed officers discovered during their first twelve days in office.

Faeldon said he only brought six personnel out of 23 appointive posts, noting that these were the officials included in Lacson's list of bribe takers in the bureau.

Lacson earlier 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.

"We discovered the smuggled shipment during [our] first 12 days of office in Customs," Faeldon said in a press conference.

Faeldon added that Lacson Jr. only had only P20,000 in capital but his company - Bonjourno - was able to import P4.6-billion worth of cement in sixty-seven shiploads.

He said that a 20-year-old junior officer who is a top-notcher in the brokerage examination alerted him to the anomalies in the shipments made by Bonjourno.

"Isang barko puno ng semento kasi ang deklarasyon niya ay less than 50 percent ng tamang deklarasyon ng taripa through the freight," Faeldon said.

"So undervaluation by 50 percent. Dineclare niya na freight cost niya ay $8 per metric ton. The prevailing market is between $16 to $20. Gaano karami ang laman? 6,000 metric tons, ang halaga nito in peso kabag binenta na natin yung semento [ay] P34 million," he added.

[LOOK: Shipments allegedly smuggled by Lacson son’s cement firm, according to Faeldon]

He also alleged that Lacson Jr. wanted to pay only 50 percent of his freight costs.

Republic Act 7394

Aside from this, Faeldon also pointed out that Bonjourno violated Republic Act 7394, Article 77 of the Consumer Act of the Philippines which states that all consumer products domestically sold whether manufactured locally or imported shall have its correct and registered trade or brand name.

He said that sacks of cement were mislabeled while Bonjourno was registered as a computer trading and sole proprietor.

"Yung kumpanya nila ay iba yung nag-import at yung hiningi yung semento...nung ipinakita iba ang [label ng] bag," he said.

Faeldon said they were alerted about three shipments amounting to P106 million from July 12 to 25 which were all undervalued by 50 percent.

"Itong Bonjourno ang capitalization lang niya nung 2015 is P20,000, paano niya na-afford ang P106 million in just three days? Tatlong barko pa lang ito na shipment na pinacheck ko sa system," he said.

Lacson Jr. on October 10 tried to ship 4,350 metric tons of cement amounting to P25 million in Legaspi, Faeldon said.

"Nakita natin consistently si Pampi Lacson Jr. wants to pay 50 percent lang ng freight cost niya. Nagbigay sa atin ng pekeng dokumento to try to justify itong October [shipment] na 'to. Nagpadala pa siya ng abogado niya to try to justify na $8 lang," Faeldon said.

"Magkano ba ang binayaran niyong taripa? Magkano ba ang binayaran niyong tax dahil ang dami niyong semento na dinala da bayan. Now kung 'di magtugma 'yan by hundreds of million, smuggler po kayo Senator Lacson," he added.

Visits

Faeldon also alleged that Lacson Jr. visited his office five times but he never met with the Senator's son.

"He went to my office five times. I never met the guy dahil hindi ko alam ang sasabihin ko sa kanya. Twelve days pa lang ako sa office.I said that itong number one sa brokers, itog 20 years old and some of my staff, kayo ang magpaliwanag kay Mr. Lacson...I never sat down with him," he said.

"Nagdala ng pera doon si Panfilo Lacson Jr. at sinabihan niya yung dalawang staff na kaharap niya na sa inyo na po ako magbabayad...Bakit nagdala ng pera doon?" he added.

He claimed that according to the Cement Manufacturers' Association of the Philippines, Bonjourno is the biggest cement smuggler.

"I guarantee you, Senator Lacson, the document your son presented to me wasn't genuine," Faeldon said.

The former Bureau of Customs official also called out Senator Lacson for naming him as one of those receiving bribes.

"You want to destroy people like me and the officers on my team, you want us out because of this," Faeldon said while waving aloft his list of known smugglers on whom they were gathering evidence against.

In a statement, Lacson denied Faeldon's allegations.

“First, I have nothing to do with my son's business activities;  second, there is no smuggling of cement as it is not subject to customs tariff and duties but only subject to VAT, which my son said when I checked with him just now, they always pay; third, he should have filed charges against my son if he now says, he's into smuggling,” Lacson said.

“Fourth, it doesn't make sense that I will expose the shenanigans in the BOC, if my son is cheating on taxes as Faeldon is now accusing him of. The logical thing for me to do is not to make the exposé and just keep quiet,” he added. 

GMA News Online has contacted the Association of Cement Manufacturers of the Philippines for comment but has yet to receive a reply as of posting time. —With Kathrina Charmaine Alvarez and Jon Viktor Cabuenas/KG/KVD/RSJ/MDM, GMA News