Ombudsman Files Graft Charges Vs Cebu Customs Officials

Ombudsman Ma. Merceditas N. Gutierrez yesterday ordered the filing of graft charges against three ranking Customs Officials assigned at the Port of Cebu and two others before the appropriate court.
In a 12-page Resolution, the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas found probable cause to indict Angel Go, Acting Chief Wharfinger; Habib Diator, Acting Wharfinger; and Conrado Rivera, Customs Guard, all of the Bureau of Customs (BOC), Port of Cebu; and Joven Cesar Abuda, and Emmanuel Carollo, Customs Brokers, both of E.R. Carollo Customs Brokerage Services, Mandaue City, for violation of RA 3019 (Anti-graft and Corrupt Practices Act).
The case stemmed from an anonymous complaint filed before the Office of the Ombudsman – Visayas on the alleged connivance of certain BOC officials with private individuals, for the release of 15 container vans of undeclared rice from the Cebu port without the payment of customs duties and taxes.
The complainant narrated that "the method of release was through the use of fake or falsified Import Entry documents that purportedly showed the payment of customs duties and taxes but was revealed later to be untrue."
Records showed that the said respondents used five falsified Import Entry documents to make it appear that a total of P1,172,384 customs duties have been paid for the release of the said container vans of imported rice.
It was established that the said documents were spurious based on the affidavit of Percito Lozada, then the Acting Chief of the Assessment Division of the Port of Cebu that "the same did not bear the machine imprints of the bank indicating the payment of duties and taxes due thereon."
The OMB-Visayas also stated that documentary evidence show that Carollo’s name and signature appeared in the fake import entry documents while Abuda’s appear in all the withdrawal documents used for the unauthorized release of the cargo.
It also identified Go as the person who submitted the fake documents to the Oriental Port and Allied Services Corporation (OPASCOR), the cargo handler in the Cebu Port Authority (CPA), for the processing of the cargo’s release.
Diator’s signature or initials on the other hand appeared on the withdrawal receipts of OPASCOR signifying clearance from the Customs Wharfinger.
In their counter-affidavits, respondent Customs officials denied the accusation against them. They claimed their duties are ministerial in nature and thus, do not involve determination of the authenticity of the documents in question.
The OMB investigating panel however did not give weight to their arguments. It said, "the fact that as long-time customs officials, the nature of their functions create expectation of their awareness of the most basic means of detecting the authenticity or spuriousness of import entry documents."
It further stated that "It has been established by the evidence that the government has been defrauded in the amount of P1,172,384 for the illegal release of 15 container vans of imported rice without the payment of customs duties and taxes."
It thus ordered the filing of the graft charges against them before the Cebu City Regional Trial Court. /MP