Smugglers may be bankrolling LP bets’ campaign, says lawmaker

MANILA, Philippines - Siquijor Rep. Orlando Fua claimed yesterday that smugglers could be bankrolling the campaign of administration candidates.

Fua cited the case of his province where a suspected smuggler, who owns a fleet of vessels that regularly sail from the country to Vietnam, is running for governor under the Liberal Party (LP) ticket.

He identified the candidate as a certain Villa, whose shipping activities span the entire country and which the lawmaker claimed were a front for smuggling activities.

Fua also said that for still unknown reasons, National Anti-Poverty Commission chief Secretary Joel Rocamora goes to Siquijor every week to meet Villa.

“So probably there must be a tie-up between him (Rocamora) and this candidate for governor, with how to raise money through smuggling,” the lawmaker said.

“It looks like this might be a modus operandi on the part of the Liberal Party raising funds,” he said.

Fua said these are signs the Aquino administration “is not really serious in eliminating smuggling and that is seriously undermining the collection agencies of government in collecting the exact tax for possible deposit in the Treasury of the Philippines.”