Customs deputy chief, 7 others suspended

MANILA, Philippines - The Office of the President has issued a 90-day preventive suspension order against a deputy commissioner of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and seven other members of the agency’s elite anti-smuggling unit who are facing graft, bribery, and other criminal charges before the Office of the Ombudsman.

Malacañang, through Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., said it is formally charging Deputy Commissioner and Run After The Smugglers (RATS) group chief Gregorio Chavez and his men with grave misconduct, grave abuse of authority, oppression and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service based on a harassment complaint filed by officials of Sanyo Seiki Stainless Steel Corporation (SSSSC).

The members of the RATS unit covered by the three-month suspension order are Christopher Dy Buco, Edgar Quinones, Francisco Fernandez Jr., Alfredo Adao, Jose Elmer Velarde, Thomas Patric Relucio and Jim Erick Acosta.

Former Solicitor General Frank Chavez, whose law office is counsel for SSSSC, said they received a copy of the preventive suspension order on Sept. 30. He lauded the Office of the President for its swift action.

“Pending investigation of the said charges, respondents are hereby placed under preventive suspension for ninety days, effective upon receipt hereof,” Ochoa’s two-page order read.

Malacañang said the preventive suspension was ordered “considering the seriousness of the charges and the existence of prima facie case against the respondents that they are probably guilty thereof which warrants their removal from the service.”

Ochoa said the continued stay in office of Chavez and his men may even “pose a threat to the safety and integrity of the records and other evidence.”

He said the respondents are given 10 days to answer the charges and submit their affidavits or documents.

The complaint against the BOC’s RATS group was filed after their attempt to enter and search SSSSC’s rented warehouse in Meycauayan, Bulacan on July 1, 2011 and in Dagat-Dagatan, Caloocan City on July 4, 2011, using defective mission orders.

The RATS group was also accused of impounding the truck and goods owned by SSSSC on July 9 without any warrant of seizure and detention.

SSSSC filed cases of direct bribery, graft, grave coercion, grave threats, betrayal of public trust, usurpation of authority and violation of the code of conduct and ethical standards for public officials and employees against the said BOC official and personnel on June 29, for allegedly trying to extort P179-million from them.

The complaint also named brokers Anabel and Fred Mozo, Marivic Jong Briones and Peter Gonzales as private respondents to the case, for allegedly conspiring with the RATS team in harassing and extorting money from the steel importer.

SSSSC also claimed to have experienced “Gestapo-type” raids, shakedowns and harassments from the BOC unit in its warehouses, which effectively paralyzed the company’s operations. 

RATS seeks recourse from CA

Meanwhile, the RATS team asked the Court of Appeals to prohibit the Office of the Deputy Executive Secretary for Legal Affairs of the Office of the President from further hearing a “baseless” administrative complaint filed by SSSSC.

The RATS members claimed SSSSC is resorting to harassment to prevent them from pursuing a criminal complaint they filed with the DOJ.

The group filed a smuggling case against SSSSC president Gregory Uy Chan for “misdeclaring, underweighing, and undervaluing their various steel and stainless steel importations last year by nearly 90 percent.”

The group claimed SSSSC imported steel products worth P1.3 billion but declared them only as P165.4 million using false and spurious invoices.

“The RATS group has been stepping on big toes in our unrelenting drive against smugglers. Now, we can see that the smuggling syndicates are using all the resources at their disposal to get rid of us and make the RATS program fail,” Chavez said.

Lawyer Louie Aseoche, also counsel for SSSSC, said the “nightmarish” raids and stakeouts prompted the company to file another complaint with the Office of the President. With Iris Gonzales