Roco explains -- but another hearing will take place on Monday

Will Customs Commissioner Ramon J. Farolan, an ex-editor-in-chief and former President of The STAR, return to his post in the Bureau of Customs?

When General Farolan left for Los Angeles, California, as announced for a "medical check-up", I'm afraid his problem is graver than has been admitted. It's not just a heart ailment, those close to him have intimated, but a broken heart, coupled with serious disappointment. The chances are that, after his Stateside doctors have examined him, Mon may tell the President that he's "too ill" to continue as Customs chief.

The general was rushed to the Philippine Heart Center last Friday when he complained of pains in his chest, and was confined for an hour or two in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). (A couple of years ago, he had undergone a quadruple coronary bypass at St. Luke's.) And to think that he had taken over the Customs "hot seat" only last January 10, not even three weeks ago, from former Customs Commissioner Nelson Tan.

I suspect, aside from being personally hurt at his removal, Nelson heaved a vast sigh of relief. He had been unable to cope with the "powerful" smugglers who reportedly name-drop the President's "relationship" to them. Tan couldn't keep track, either, of the fastbreak operators who ran circles around him.

When the President unveiled Farolan as the next Customs Commissioner there was rejoicing in the business community as well as among the populace. For Farolan had not only been an ambassador, a chairman of the Export Processing Zone, a commanding general of the Philippine Air Force, but had been -- most interesting of all -- a former Customs Commissioner. It was believed that a veteran of Customs, a "returnee" to that graft-ridden bureau, could curb the syndicates and those insolent influence-peddlers with a key to the backdoor of Malacañang.

No sooner had Farolan taken over than he began to encounter difficulties. Among them was General Jose Calimlim and his Task Force Aduana bravos who acted as though they were the ones "controlling" Customs, with the authority to check all shipments emerging from the piers and airports.

However, the last straw was provided by certain persons, male and female, who are, as everybody knows, "very close" to the President. I had to wrest this information from "insiders", because the family isn't talking. As for the General, he's unable to talk. I don't want to presume to be able to read his mind, but the next time he opens his mouth, it may be to say to his friend, the President, "Goodbye."

Perhaps, when he's feeling better, Mon may reconsider and go back to the Customs to tough it out. On the other hand, he's not a teenager. He may be able to take the long hours, but, alas, not the strain of having to look "spoiled" influence-peddlers in the eye, and say: "No."

Unless the President can guarantee, once and for all, that nobody, and I mean NOBODY at all, will be permitted to harass or bully the Customs chief and his underlings by brandishing the Presidential badge or DNA, then no honest guy will ever accept the Customs job. Only crooks and make-hay-while-the-sun-shines grafters or mascots of the smuggling and drug syndicates will apply.

Noel Coward, the witty English playwright and raconteur, once exclaimed: "It's discouraging to think how many people are shocked by honesty and how few by deceit."

In the Customs zone, whenever any official declares he's "honest", the others reach for their guns.

Would you believe that a sleepy "city" in Mindanao, Gingoog City -- less than one hour and 45 minutes by light aircraft from Cagayan de Oro -- more than US$60 billion in fake US treasury notes and counterfeit dollar bills were seized last Friday in raids on three "safehouses" there?

Gingoog is in Misamis Oriental. The raids were led by Chief Supt. Lucas Managuelod, criminal investigation and detection group director of the PNP, accompanied by agents of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. However, and this comes from "classified" sources, the fellow who "tipped off" Managuelod and the CIDG raiders was Police Gen. Leandro Mendoza, who had been in the short-list to be named head of the Philippine National Police but had been sidelined by the appointment, instead, of General Panfilo "Ping" Lacson.

Those who know the set-up in Gingoog can tell you that up in the hills is New People's Army "territory," but in the lowlands there are still elements of the Kuratong Baleleng lying in hibernation.

I don't understand why Mendoza didn't step up to take the credit for the discovery, but, if I recall right, it was also Mendoza who had alerted former Bulacan Governor Obet Pagdanganan about the impending 1989 coup attempt by the RAM-SFP-YOU military rebels.

What the "after-action" report of the CIDG and BSP did not say is that 14 vessels had been awaiting the loading of those fake dollar bills and fake multibillion-dollar Federal Reserves notes, Liberty Bond certificates, even a 500-million Banco Sentral de l'Argentina note (worth US$500 M., of course), treasury cerrtificates, and Liberty Bonds. What about the sophisticated printing presses and reproduction equipment being utilized by the counterfeit gangs? Where are they located?

Gingoog is an ideal jump-off point. Nobody "notices" such an overgrown town. It's conveniently situated on Gingoog Bay -- and therefore handy for transshipments.

Last December, another $2-trillion in counterfeit US and Japanese treasury bond certificates and dollar "greenbacks" were seized in Malaybalay City, Bukidnon.

Mindanao has become, it seems, the "counterfeit capital" of Asia. Preliminary investigation, our sources say, has uncovered the fact that the fake bills and certificates were printed utilizing the same watermarked security paper on which our peso bills are printed -- tons of which were burned (or were they?) when the immense warehouse vault of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas "mint" in Quezon City burned to the ground in a big fire on Nov. 22. (A second fire occurred last Jan. 11.) How did that large hoard of "security paper" get smuggled into Mindanao for the printing of the ersatz currencies and certificates?

By the way, I think that former BSP Governor Gabby Singson, who was head of the central bank for more than six years (from 1993 to 1999), ought to explain to the public why the ostensibly fireproof and impenetrable "vault" of the BSP mint, with its irreplaceable stacks of watermarked security paper, turned out to be a firetrap, and burned merrily for days without a fail-safe system to check sudden flare-ups of fire or a proper fire-suppression system installed. When firemen dashed over to the scene, they were prevented from entering the "vault". (Who can blame the BSP security guards from stubbornly resisting intrusion and keeping the firemen out, given the unfortunate "reputation" of our firefighters?)

The offshoot was that nobody was able to break into the vault to combat the flames -- and everything inside was consumed.

To the surprise of the new BSP Governor Rafael Buenaventura, when he and his investigators finally were able to get into the still-smoldering interior of the vault, it was found that, although the roof was made of steel, there was a combustible ceiling or kisamé inexplicably installed there which was quickly set ablaze by some "accident" which triggered the conflagration. Moreover, Buenaventura said, it was amazing how tons of paper, set on pallets, had been stacked in the warehouse vault flush against electrical outlets, since one spark from which could have started the destructive fire! This is sheer negligence and lack of concern, if you ask me.

May I submit that a chemical automatic fire-smothering system be put in to prevent future ruinous conflagrations? The last one must have cost the BSP many millions of pesos in losses. The "guards" should also have, ready at hand, fireproof and gas-mask type headgear, since the fumes emitted from the special inks and security paper can only be poisonous when ablaze.

Here's one for Ripley: Thanks to the Y2K or Millennium Bug scare -- although Y2K, after all, didn't cause computer meltdowns and provoke bank "runs" in a so-called millennium panic -- the "crisis" proved a blessing in disguise. Although neither Buenaventura nor BSP officials are ready to admit it, the Bangko printed an extra P200 million in peso bills in order to prevent a bank run by making so many pesos easily available to all banks and financial institutions that they could "prove" to their nervous clients and depositors that any rash of withdrawals could be smoothly handled.

"In the end," Buenaventura remarked later, "this proved providential. To begin with, bank withdrawals, since the public saw there was no shortage of pesos, were kept down to only 30 percent (instead of a panic). Now, even after our watermark paper supply was burned to a crisp, we still have enough pesos in storage to be systematically doled out, without flooding the set-up or the market, whenever a need for more pesos arises."

See? Even "worries" can be turned to our advantage. Instead of an overprinting of pesos, now we have "enough" on hand.

Senator Raul Roco talked to me yesterday to explain why he had chosen the Philippine Stock Exchange building (the one in the Tektite Bldg., Pasig) for a meeting of his Senate Committee on Banks & Financial Institutions last January 19. This is the confrontation in which Chairman Perfecto "Jun" Yasay delivered his so-called bombshell "testimony" that President Estrada had telephoned him to ask him to "clear" Dante Tan and his BW Resources Inc. in the PSE and SEC "stock manipulation" inquiry.

Roco asserted that he had sent out, as usual, a five-day notice to the other eight members of his committee, but none of them showed up that day. Therefore, when he received Yasay alone, he says, he converted the meeting into a mere "working group" session.

"I don't know why the PSE assign the auditorium for our meeting," Roco averred, "and, incidentally, Yasay made that remark about 'pressure' only after we had wound up our discussion and were preparing to leave the hall." Sus, does this mean that sweet Senator Roco didn't, after all, bait Yasay into "accusing" President Erap?

The reason he had set the meeting in the PSE headquarters, Roco pointed out, was the fact that he was also interested in accessing the computer records of stock exchange "buys" and "sales," so he could get a picture of how it worked.

As for the second "hearing" of his committee, this time in the Senate "Recto Room" on January 28, Raul confirmed that he had been joined by Minority Floor Leader Tito Guingona and Senator Serge Osmeña III. (When I asked whether three senators constituted a quorum, Roco replied that it was customary in the Senate to hold such "small" meetings "since we are only 22 Senators, and have to divide our time between sessions and meetings.")

Roco denied yesterday that he was exerting "pressure" on the Philippine Stock Exchange investigation of the BW Resources case, nor on the SEC.

"I don't intend to pre-empt the findings of those two institutions, and I won't release any conclusions before they do." That's a promise, Raul?

The senator said that the inquiry still has a long way to go. The PSE report, he underscored, was scheduled to be released Thursday next week, on February 10, then, after a month of reviewing it, the SEC (or Jun Yasay) was supposed to publicize its "final" report on March 10.

In the meantime, however, Roco stated he was calling in the PSE "technicians" next Monday to explain to him and his committee how the computerized system operates, and decipher the records already in his hands, including a diskette that had been handed to him. Okay, Raul: But don't make it a Grand Inquisition. Remember at all times, such inquiries are intended to be "in aid of legislation," not a detective story.

As for the Securities Act of 1999, Roco saw no reason why it shouldn't be approved quickly. He reminded me that he was the major sponsor of that bill in the Senate and the upper chamber had already "approved" it. All that remains is for the House of Representatives to pass the bill, then submit it for final form to the "bicameral committee."

"Why are they dragging their feet?" I asked Roco. He chuckled and retorted: " Why don't you ask them?"

That was a non-answer, if you ask me. But okay, this is a query directed at Speaker Manny Villar: Why is it taking the House so long to okay that bill, described as "urgent" by Malacañang?

And why, even after their "cordial" meeting in Malacañang are the President's men (like Humpty Dumpty's minions) still agitating fiercely regarding the need for poor Yasay to "resign." Yasay has been hounded verbally and in person. Yesterday, an emissary from the Palace, a businessman, was believed to have asked him for his "promised" letter of resignation. What? l'll reveal this guy's name, but only under torture.

As early as January 18, two messengers from the Palace already "ambushed" Yasay at his home. When the SEC chairman arrived home that night, he found businessman Jaime Dichaves (of Belle Corp. punch-up fame) awaiting him, accompanied by lawyer Amado "Boy" Santiago. The two said they had been tasked to "invite" Yasay to a meeting with the President.

But first, they insisted, Yasay should draw up and sign a "letter of resignation." Why the bum's rush? Why is Yasay being stampeded to quit?

All these signals should tell Jun Yasay one thing: Don't resign! Stick to your pledge that you'll step down from the SEC only AFTER the Securities Act of 1999 is passed and signed into law. That's a reasonable offer. How can a few weeks make any difference?