Belmonte denies being bagman for the Tulfos

Bureau of Customs district collector Ricardo Belmonte vehemently denied the allegations by a certain Jimmy Salgado that he collected at least P100,000 a month for the controversial Tulfo brothers who are prominent media personalities in Manila.

In an interview with The Freeman yesterday, Belmonte said he and other Customs officials have already been called by the National Bureau of Investigation to shed light on the allegations.

"Bakit ako magbibigay? Matanggal ba ako sa pwesto?" said Belmonte, who claimed that the NBI has already cleared him from the accusation.

Salgado, an alleged bagman of media men reportedly involved in extortion activities, was arrested recently by the NBI in Manila.

In a sworn statement, he divulged the alleged extortion activities of the Tulfo brothers - Ramon, Raffy and Erwin.

Salgado narrated how he was being used in the extortion activities of the Tulfo brothers, describing how he collected monthly extortion money from BoC officials and employees in exchange of the stopping of criticism by the brothers in their radio programs and newspaper columns.

Salgado confessed that since 2004, he served as the bagman of Ramon in the monthly collection of P50,000 from Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service chief Jake Paguntalan, P80,000 from CIIS chief for operation Teddy Sagaral, P80,000 from principal appraiser Maita Acebedo; P80,000 from Collector Adelina Molina; P70,000 from Collector Horacio Suansing; P70,000 from Collector Ronie Silvestre; P70,000 from Collector John Tan; P70,000 from Collector Lilian Veses and P100,000 from Collector Boysie Belmonte.

Salgado added that the last time he collected money from these BoC officials was in July 2006.

His sworn statement will form part of the additional charges that former Cebu Customs collector Ma. Lourdes Mangaoang would file against Ramon. Mangaoang earlier filed four counts of libel complaints against Ramon before the Cebu City Prosecutor's Office, seeking P10 million in damages.

Tulfo allegedly made a series of malicious and defamatory columns in the Philippine Daily Inquirer against Mangaoang during her stint in Cebu.

In one of his columns, Tulfo allegedly wrote that Mangaoang refused to vacate her Cebu port assignment despite an order from BoC Commissioner Napoleon Morales because of her alleged relationship with Department of Finance Secretary Gary Teves. - Gregg M. Rubio