Vessel that ‘vanished’ in Butuan found in Cebu

BUTUAN CITY — After more than two months, a cargo vessel loaded with 15,000 sacks of allegedly smuggled rice that "vanished" from the Butuan port last July 12, was finally tracked down in Cebu.

But the vessel, M/V Rodeo, was renamed M/V Jan Dean when agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), along with Customs and Coast Guard men, apprehended it at the Apo Cement Corp. wharf in Naga, Cebu last Sept. 18.

The composite team, led by acting NBI-Caraga director Manuel Almendares and supervising agent Gerry Perdido, served a warrant of seizure and detention issued by Butuan Customs collector Diego Odchemar.

M/V Jan Dean is reportedly owned by a certain Zaldy Villa, manager of Villa Shipping Lines with offices in Cebu City. Its skipper, Urbano Daug, received the seizure order, according to NBI-Caraga assistant director Reynaldo Esme—ralda.

It is now tightly guarded at Pier 5 in Cebu City. Cebu Customs collector Billy Bibit has issued a hold departure order against the vessel.

The NBI ascertained that it was the same ship that escaped from this city’s port based on records of the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) and a video clip of a local ABS-CBN news crew who took a footage of the vessel while docked at the Lumbocan port last July 11.

The NBI also has sworn statements of two crew members who boarded the "fugitive" ship the day it disappeared from the Butuan port with 15,000 sacks of "smuggled" rice.

At least 1,186 sacks of rice that were unloaded from M/V Rodeo and seized before it escaped are under the custody of the Butuan City government.

The Coast Guard said both M/V Rodeo and M/V Jan Dean have a declared gross tonnage of 383, cargo holds with a crane on the top deck and Chinese characters embossed on the bow. Their general layout — rooms, galley, bridge, passageways and stairways — were similar.

The NBI has filed criminal and administrative charges against 13 Caraga policemen over the escape of M/V Rodeo.

Surigao del Sur Rep. Prospero Pichay has filed a bill categorizing rice smuggling as "economic sabotage and plunder," making it a heinous crime. — With Nestor Etolle