BOC official put in ‘freezer’

MANILA, Philippines - Relieved Bureau of Customs deputy commissioner for Enforcement Group (EG) Arnel Alcaraz has been placed in the ”freezer” on suspicion that he was the one alluded to by President Duterte as a corrupt BOC official.

Mandy Anderson, chief of staff of Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon, yesterday said Alcaraz has been transferred to the Compliance Monitoring Unit (CMU).

“Alcaraz is one of the members of the CMU. Some call it the ‘freezer’ but right now we are utilizing the members of the CMU for collection monitoring and figuring out policies to improve the collection of the BOC,” said Anderson.

Faeldon appointed Enforcement and Security Service (ESS) director Isabelo Tibayan III as officer-in-charge of the BOC-EG.

Anderson clarified that while Duterte did not name the official, it was only Alcaraz who was a deputy commissioner with a pending case before the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

He said Alcaraz would remain at the CMU pending an administrative investigation.

At the moment, they have no copy of the complaint. They are still waiting for the NBI to furnish them a copy of the complaint before they could initiate the investigation.

She admitted that so far they have limited information about the case allegedly involving Alcaraz.

The case allegedly involved a shipment consigned to Madagan Trading that was reportedly misdeclared as imported plywood, but during examination the product was discovered to be phenolic boards that came in through the Port of Manila.

She said the BOC-EG had placed the shipment on alert.

Aside from Madagan Trading, there were three or four other complaints from brokers and importers against Alcaraz.

However, there were no written complaints so the bureau took no action, said Anderson.