Customs official bids to defer dismissal

CEBU — A customs division chief whom the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas had recently ordered dismissed from his post yesterday asked to defer the implementation of the dismissal order.

Earlier, the Ombudsman had ruled that Benjamin Bongon, chief of the Customs clearance processing office, be dismissed from service for dishonesty and grave misconduct.

On March 25, the Ombudsman then directed Loevigildo Dayoja, the Mactan port collector, to implement the order against Bongon.

Dayoja, on April 21, complied and ordered that Bongon’s dismissal be implemented immediately.

Yesterday, however, Gregorio Escasinas, legal counsel of Bongon, wrote Dayoja to defer the implementation on the ground that they have a pending motion for reconsideration on the matter at the Supreme Court.

The Ombudsman had previously denied Bongon’s motion for reconsideration.

The case started on Nov. 5, 1999 when Customs officials apprehended M/V Affy for carrying an estimated 28,000 bags of unmanifested imported sugar.

A seizure and detention warrant was then issued against the vessel and its cargo.

But what followed was that the cargo was auctioned in allegedly questionable manner resulting to an allegedly anomalous refund to the winning bidder himself.

On Aug. 24, 2000, one Mr. Ang, the bidder, had tendered the winning bid of P762.20 per bag of sugar or a total of over P21-million for the estimated 28,000 bags.

But considering that the total number of bags were mere estimates, Ang was only made to deposit P21 million equivalent to the price of 28,000 bags.

After monitoring, a composite team reported to Bongon that only 13,753 bags of sugar were unloaded from the vessel and taken by Ang.

On Aug. 29, 2000, Ang wrote a letter to former district collector Rolando Yebes, through Bongon, requesting for a refund of P10,859,063 representing the excess of his deposit of P21,341,600.

Ang succeeded in getting the refund through the Philippine National Bank.

But the Ombudsman, in an ensuing investigation, found out that Ang had actually withdrawn a total of 26,908 bags.

At least 11 Customs personnel were charged for the alleged irregular deal but the Ombudsman only found three of them guilty. — Freeman News Service