'Fire SBMA execs behind rice smuggling'

MANILA, Philippines - Valenzuela City Rep. Magtanggol Gunigundo I urged President Aquino yesterday to dismiss officials of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) implicated in the alleged smuggling of Indian rice worth P500 million.

He made the call as he revealed that part of the rice shipment has already been taken out of the SBMA area even as the Senate is conducting an investigation into the most recent alleged smuggling incident in the freeport.

He said he has information that up to 50 container vans have been moved out of the freeport.

“All these blatant corruption and smuggling in Subic could not have happened without the knowledge of higher SBMA and even Bureau of Customs (BOC) officials. Smuggling has been going on to the detriment of our economy for quite some time now,” he said.

He said some “powers that be, whoever they may be” in the SBMA and the BOC obviously gave the go-signal for the alleged smuggling of Indian rice.

“No one would attempt the smuggling of this magnitude without the imprimatur or blessing of higher officials,” added Gunigundo, who once worked at the BOC during the time of former commissioner Guillermo Parayno.

So far, two mid-level SBMA officials whose names came up in the Senate inquiry have temporarily vacated their posts. They are Stefani Saño, senior deputy administrator for business development, and Redentor Tuazon, senior deputy administrator for seaport operations.

Saño was once involved in negotiations and delivery of ransom money for the release of hostages held by the Abu Sayyaf.        

Gunigundo asked the Senate and Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon to look into the possible involvement of a Customs district collector and a certain Cuevas from Cagayan.        

He said the two along with Tuazon were the ones who allegedly “processed everything.” “But there could be higher officials involved. That we should find out,” he said.

During the Senate inquiry, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, who authored the law creating the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority and who hails from Cagayan province, tagged Cuevas as the one who allegedly facilitated the Indian rice shipment.

The importers, through their lawyers, have claimed that their shipment was legal and could not be considered smuggled as long as it remained inside the Subic Freeport.

They said their cargo was really intended for transshipment to Indonesia.