Probe sought on ex-Customs chief, BIR commissioner

Surigao del Sur Rep. Prospero Pichay Jr. asked the House committee on good government yesterday to investigate recently resigned Customs commissioner Alberto Lina and internal revenue commissioner Guillermo Parayno.

In Resolution 866, Pichay, a staunch ally of President Arroyo, accused the former officials of conflict of interest in relation to a contract that LGC Logistics, a company owned by Lina, won from Customs before Lina was appointed commissioner.

The Lina firm bagged the contract during the time of former finance secretary Juanita Amatong and former Customs commissioner George Jereos.

Pichay said Lina should not have accepted his appointment by Mrs. Arroyo as Jereos’ successor since his companies were and still are dealing with Customs, Pichay said.

The Surigao congressman linked Parayno to the contract on the basis of LGC’s incorporation papers. Parayno is one of five minor shareholders of LGC, whose principal stockholders are Lina and his wife Sylvia.

Lina and Parayno, who described Pichay’s assault on him and Lina as "a smear job," are part of a group of Arroyo Cabinet members led by Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima that tendered their irrevocable resignations and called for the President’s resignation last Friday. Lina, on the other hand, said Pichay is mad at him because he did not accommodate his many requests while heading the Customs bureau.

House Minority Leader Francis Escudero said he and his opposition colleagues support former President Corazon Aquino’s insistence that Mrs. Arroyo should step down.

"It is consistent with our position from the start. Mrs. Arroyo should resign and spare the nation from this situation of anxiety, uncertainty and suffering," he said.

He added that Mrs. Aquino had the best interests of the country in mind in insisting the President’s resignation.

Escudero’s majority counterpart, Prospero Nograles on the other hand, said the former president "cannot impose her will on others."

He also reminded Mrs. Aquino that when the Aquino-owned Hacienda Luisita was faced with a labor strike, "we, the (administration) allies, supported them against attacks by militant groups."

LGC Logistics denied Pichay’s allegation.

"While it is true that the former commissioner’s early plans and business strategies included the establishment of an interest-based, one-stop system to facilitate activities of the export as well as import sector, these were completed before he assumed the position of Customs commissioner. Such strategies were designed to reduce the cost of business and at the same time keep the forwarding industry in tandem with the requirements of the global community," the company said in a statement.

"Moreover, Lina completely divested his business interests prior to his assumption as commissioner. Business decisions reached after the former commissioner’s divestment are therefore the new owner’s own. However, the so-called contract was never implemented on the advice of the former commissioner, precisely because of delicadeza." — Jess Diaz