BOC wants Manila judge to inhibit from Mighty Corp. case

The Bureau of Customs (BOC) is not yet done with the Manila judge who issued the order preventing the agency from conducting raids and inspections on the warehouses of cigarette firm Mighty Corporation.

After filing an administrative complaint with the Supreme Court on Monday, the BOC said Tuesday it will ask Judge Tita Bughao Alisuag of the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 1 to inhibit from the case.

"Through the Office of the Solicitor General, we will ask Judge Alisuag to inhibit from the Mighty TRO (temporary restraining order) case for having acted with manifest bias and partiality in favor of Mighty, in addition to having acted without jurisdiction and/or excess of jurisdiction and with manifest overbreadth, to the extreme prejudice of defendants," BOC legal service head Alvin Ebreo said in a text message to GMA News Online.

Ebreo said the 20-day TRO, which will lapse on March 23, against the BOC "effectively prevented us from exercising the powers and mandate against Mighty even in the absence of a factual allegation."

Ebreo's argument for inhibition echoed the BOC's administrative complaint against Alisuag whom it accused of gross ignorance of the law after issuing the TRO despite her supposed lack of authority to do so.

The BOC also said Alisuag "blatantly" disregarded the established rule that regular courts do not have jurisdiction over seizure and forfeiture proceedings.

It was not immediately clear when the BOC will file the motion for inhibition before the sala of Judge Alisuag, who heard the plea of Mighty Corporation for a preliminary injunction on Tuesday morning.

The hearing was off-limits to the media.

A favorable ruling for Mighty Corporation, whose owners are under investigation for smuggling and tax evasion over alleged use of fake tax stamps on its cigarette products, means the stay order would be in effect for an indefinite period of time. —ALG, GMA News