Fiscal: Smuggling probe to open 'can of worms'

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines  – The justice department’s resumption of its investigation on the smuggling complaint filed against car collector Lynard Allan Bigcas would be like opening a “can of worms” that could implicate some employees and officials at the customs bureau here, city chief prosecutor Fidel Macauyag said yesterday.

This, after Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, in her Aug. 11 order, created a three-man panel of prosecutors to conduct the preliminary investigation on the complaint.

The panel, set to start its probe anytime this week, is composed of Macauyag, senior assistant state prosecutor Edwin Dayog, and assistant state prosecutor Agapito Fajardo Jr.

Macauyag said the complaint they are preparing against Bigcas will serve as a “reckoning point” for the DOJ in going after erring employees and officials of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) here.

“We will dig deeper to identify these ‘brokers’ of smugglers at Customs, and then we will expose who these smugglers are,” Macauyag said.

Earlier, Macauyag created a panel of prosecutors to investigate the complaint but he said it would not run into any conflict with the panel created by De Lima.

The local prosecutors – Julieta Piloton, Joan Waga, and Ansharey Lalia – would instead assist the DOJ-created panel by doing the “legwork” of the investigation, he said.

Agents of the National Bureau of Investigation raided and seized several vehicles from Bigcas’ residences in Kauswagan, Cagayan de Oro City and Talakag, Bukidnon last May 3.