Soldiers should fight, not run the economy - Gotcha

At first glance, the mistaken seizure of 314 motorbikes from Norkis Trading's compound was a minor mix-up. On closer look, it's an example of the economic mismanagement that's turning businessmen away from Joseph Estrada's administration.

Soldiers from AFP vice chief Gen. Jose Calimlim's Task Force Aduana raided Norkis last week on an unnamed tipster's say-so. The informer reportedly told Intelligence Service-AFP, which Calimlim also heads, that Norkis had sneaked the bikes into Cebu by "bombing"-sliding down contraband shipside for pickup by boats. Troops confiscated the bikes despite import papers showing that these had been brought in as Yamaha Wonderbike used motors and spare parts for reconditioning and reassembly into cheap Norkis Econobikes.

A colonel from ISAFP's 7th Military Intelligence Group in Cebu supposedly received the tip, then went to the local Customs office for a seizure warrant. Both MIG-7 and Cebu Customs did not bother to check the import papers from 1992 to 1999 that itemized the motor, body and parts serial numbers of the allegedly smuggled units.

That's what happens when a reactive administration lets soldiers do civilian jobs. Soldiers will use military tactics and, in the process, violate legal rights and procedures. Norkis is likely to sue for damages.

Norkis' isn't an isolated case. It was bound to happen under an administration that rose to power with no program of government other than to reward campaign contributors.

Malacañang from the start couldn't trust its own men in Customs, Tourist Duty-Free Shops, and Economic Intelligence and Investigation Bureau. Finance officials kept complaining that crony-appointees were abetting instead of curbing smuggling. It was clear Malacañang needed to replace its wrong appointees with honest, able men who could improve government revenue collections.

But it didn't. Instead, Malacañang cajoled the finance officials to resign, put TDFS men in watch lists, and sought to abolish EIIB -- while distributing smuggled luxury vans to Cabinet members. Only much later did it sack the Customs chief. By that time, it had formed TF-Aduana under Calimlim, who was then also head of the Presidential Security Group, to do Customs' job of intercepting smuggled contraband.

While business circles buzzed with murmurs that presidential relatives were cornering rice and sugar imports, Aduana intercepted dozens of ships laden with grains. Some were declared smuggled, others were proven clean imports -- but only after damage was done.

In one case, TF-Aduana held hundreds of tons of sugar for months in a ship in Batangas, despite proofs of approved imports. Sugar prices were soaring at the time. In another case, military helicopters and armored personnel carriers swooped down on an Ilocos Sur seaside village to confiscate motorcycles and home appliances from both known smugglers and residents who merely got gifts from relatives working abroad. In still another case last December, TF-Aduana routed five shiploads of smuggled rice in Ozamiz City. Without court warrants, troops forced open warehouses where they suspected the smugglers had hidden part of the contraband.

Soldiers had a field day that Christmas, selling rice for only half the price per sack.

Malacañang has yet to name a permanent Customs chief. It is relying on Calimlim's TF-Aduana for the job, although the general is overworked with other concurrent positions. The Cebu raid was conducted while Calimlim was busy overseeing military operations against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in Lanao and Maguindanao, terrorist abductors in Basilan, and bandit kidnappers in Sulu. AFP chief Gen. Angelo de los Reyes was abroad on an international conference, so Calimlim was acting AFP chief.

Why Estrada relies heavily on Calimlim, only the highest administration officials know. Malacañang insiders say the general is a foil against a supposedly ambitious PNP chief Gen. Panfilo Lacson, who knows too much about Estrada. Others say Estrada, a movie actor who rose from small-town mayor to senator to vice president, simply doesn't know enough trustworthy civilians for antismuggling work. Estrada claims that no one wants to work in government anymore because of low pay and constant brickbats from the press.

That Estrada cannot inspire men of goodwill to rally around and work for him is a cause for national concern. In Cebu, Norkis is worried about its corporate reputation. Company spokesmen are asking why soldiers arbitrarily raided the compound of one of the country's Top 1000 corporations and frequent Customs awardee as top import-duty payer.

Only last yearend, Customs cited Norkis for importing parts and motors for 50,000 Econobikes in 700 container vans worth $44 million, or P1.76 billion, for which it paid P250 million in duties and taxes. Norkis has sold more than 150,000 Econobikes since 1984 under a program that employs 3,000 Cebuanos who would otherwise be jobless if it imports and assembles only Yamaha Wonderbikes.

No thanks to the Estrada administration for Norkis' efforts. And certainly no thanks for the military raid.

This passage from Apolinario Mabini's La Revolucion Filipina, translated by Leon Ma. Guerrero in 1969, might remind you of somebody or something:

"To sum it up, the Revolution failed because it was badly led; because its leader won his post by reprehensible rather than meritorious acts; because instead of supporting the men most useful to the people, he made them useless out of jealousy. Identifying the aggrandizement of the people with his own, he judged the worth of men not by their ability, character and patriotism, but rather by their degree of friendship and kinship with him; and anxious to secure the readiness of his favorites to sacrifice themselves for him, he was tolerant even of their transgressions.

"Because he thus neglected the people, (they) forsook him; and forsaken by the people, he was bound to fall like a waxen idol melting in the heat of adversity. God grant we do not forget such a terrible lesson, learnt at the cost of untold suffering."

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