Customs execs received P10 M for cargo ship’s escape from Cebu?

CEBU CITY — Did Customs officials and other people receive P10 million to allow the escape of the cargo vessel Great Faith from Customs custody last Christmas Eve?

Eliseo Gealan, a special agent of the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service, said he came to know about the deal after the vessel slipped out of the Ouano wharf in Mandaue City.

Gealan has come forward to testify on what he knows about the mysterious disappearance of the ship, which carried more than 20,000 bags of allegedly smuggled rice.

Adding to what he had disclosed at a congressional inquiry the other week, Gealan said the names of those who had been bribed are in a list. He, however, refused to say who they are or who paid them off.

"Saka ko na lang sasabihin para may suspense. Pag lumabas na yong listahan, marami ang tatamaan. Hindi lang mga Customs officials sa Cebu, pati na doon sa Manila (I will just reveal them later so there will be suspense. When the list comes out, many will be affected, not only Customs officials in Cebu but even in Manila)," Gealan said.

Gealan, however, said there is no way of checking if those in the list actually received the money.

Broker

He claimed to know who brokered the "great escape" of Great Faith, but added that the broker, not a Customs employee, might not have actually given the shares of some of the intended beneficiaries.

Gealan is expected to tell more when the congressional inquiry resumes.

He insisted he is not a party to the conspiracy and swore that he never received a centavo from the deal.

Gealan and fellow Customs agent Julius Caesar Villarin, among those tasked to secure the Great Faith, have been recommended for both criminal and administrative charges in connection with the vessel’s disappearance.

Gealan, however, is now being considered as a possible state witness.

"Why should I be charged criminally? Wala naman akong kinalaman doon. Nag-surveillance lang ako at the time nawala yong barko. Hindi ako ang nagpa-release ng barko (I was not involved. I just did surveillance work at the time the ship disappeared. I was not the one who released it)," he said.

Relieved

Gealan, along with 11 other agents and nine Customs policemen, has been relieved.

Former district collector Roberto Sacramento and former deputy collector for assessment Santiago Maravillas were also relieved because of the incident.

The Great Faith, with more than 20,000 bags of allegedly smuggled rice, was seized single-handedly by Maravillas last Sept. 13 for lack of important documents.

The following day, he issued a warrant of seizure and detention both for the ship and its cargo.

But on Oct. 2, Sacramento lifted Maravillas’ seizure order and ordered the release of both the cargo and the vessel.

On Dec. 12, Customs Commissioner Titus Villanueva reversed Sacramento’s order and ordered the ship and its cargo forfeited in favor of the government.

Despite the order, the cargo was never moved to any warehouse of the National Food Authority, as should have been done of all rice shipments forfeited in favor of the government.

Instead, the ship remained moored at the Ouano wharf for nearly two weeks since the forfeiture, its smuggled cargo sitting in its hold, until it suddenly disappeared. — Freeman News Service