BOC exec admits meeting 2 of 5 groups Lacson linked to smuggling

Two of the five groups Senator Panfilo Lacson has linked to smuggling had met with officials of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) to request for faster processing of shipments, a Customs official told a Senate hearing on Thursday.

"Only two groups," Mandy Anderson, chief of staff of the Officer of the Commissioner, said when asked if she met with any of the five groups Lacson mentioned in his privilege speech on BOC corruption last August 23.

According to Anderson, she met with a certain Kimberly Gamboa and another employee of the BOC who claimed to be part of the so-called Davao group.

"I actually met Kimberly Gamboa once in my office," she said, noting that the individual was requesting for a meeting with then-BOC Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon.

Anderson said Gamboa had a shipment of tiles or plywood that was put on hold by the BOC due to an alert order.

"She was trying to meet the commissioner to explain her shipment was not alertable and to complain that her shipment was put on hold without an alert order," she said.

Aside from Gamboa, Anderson said she also met with a BOC employee who claimed to be part of the Davao group.

"He came to my office regarding the 60 plus shipments alerted by the Commissioner at the start of his term. He asked me if I can help him," she said.

Anderson claimed the individual also showed her a text message from a certain "Mans" — believed to be President Rodrigo Duterte's son-in-law Manases Carpio — asking to fast-track the processing of the shipment.

"He showed me a text message from a certain 'Mans' but I told him I don't care and I told him to leave my office," she said.

Carpio, husband of Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, attended the hearing where he denied involvement in smuggling.

Anderson clarified, however, that she did not know if Carpio and the "Mans" who sent the text message were one and the same.

In his privilege speech, Lacson said the "big players" in smuggling are the Davao group, David Tan, Manny Santos, Teves Group, and Kimberly Gamboa.

The Senate is investigating the P6.4 billion worth of shabu that was smuggled from China and seized in Valenzuela City in May. —KBK, GMA News