Manila, Philippines - Three ranking officials of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and four private individuals were charged Wednesday with graft before the Office of the Ombudsman for allegedly trying to extort P179 million from a steel firm.
Deputy Commissioner Gregorio Chavez, who heads the Run After The Smugglers (RATS) unit; his chief of staff, Jet Maronilla; and collection officer Lucila Medina, chief of the customs bonded warehouse unit, are respondents in the case.
All three are accused of allegedly acting in conspiracy with spouses Godofredo and Anabel Mozo, both customs brokers; Leo Peter Paul Gonzales, a former chief operating officer of the steel firm; and Marlene Jong, who claims to be Chavez’s wife.
Gregory Uy Chan, president of Sanyo Seiki Steel Corp., an international company engaged in the business of supplying stainless steel, said the BOC officials and their cohorts reportedly tried to extort more than P179 million from their firm in exchange for not accusing the company of engaging in smuggling.
“This is nothing but a scandalous shakedown… The corrupt BOC officers in power are using the BOC as an instrumentality to their illegal activities,” Chan, accompanied by his lawyer, former solicitor general Frank Chavez, said in his complaint filed before the anti-graft agency.
He said the extortion started in November 2010, when he was approached by the Mozos, who told him that they are suspected of smuggling and asked him to pay P15 million to “pay off certain BOC officials,” including BOC Commissioner Angelito Alvarez and Chavez. He said he was forced to pay P5 million on Nov. 9, 2010 and another P5 million seven days later.
Chan said despite the payments, on Dec. 30, 2010, several newspapers came out with articles alleging that Sanyo Seiki smuggled P40 million worth of stainless steel from Taiwan, which were seized at the Manila International Container Port.
Chan said he called the Mozos, who promised to help but not before the BOC seized 64 more of the firm’s containers and filed smuggling charges against the company before the Department of Justice on Jan. 20.
On Jan. 30, he said the Mozo couple called him and asked for a meeting at a hotel in Pasay. He said it was there they met Jong, who “told us that all we had to do was pay them P179 million and… all our shipments would be released and the DOJ case against me would be dismissed.”
Chan said the accused asked for a downpayment of P5 million, which he paid on Jan. 31, after which “several of our containers were released.”
Since some of Sanyo Seiki’s containers were still on hold, the Mozos allegedly kept on asking for the P179 million, which they later lowered to P50 million and then to P40 million.
When he flatly refused to pay the amount, Chan said Fred Mozo told him, “Say your prayers.”
“The said BOC officers and the private individuals are all in conspiracy with one another trying to coerce us into paying them,” he said.
Because of Sanyo Seiki’s refusal to pay, the BOC headed by Medina, attempted to raid the company’s warehouse located at Meycauyan, Bulacan on June 17 but were denied entry because they did not have a mission order.