{"id":110217,"date":"2017-08-07T05:41:22","date_gmt":"2017-08-07T09:41:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=110217"},"modified":"2017-08-07T05:41:22","modified_gmt":"2017-08-07T09:41:22","slug":"customs-broker-names-boc-officials-on-the-take","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/08\/07\/customs-broker-names-boc-officials-on-the-take\/","title":{"rendered":"Customs broker names BOC officials ‘on the take’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"At<\/a>
At a congressional inquiry on the 600-kilogram shabu shipment from China, Mark Taguba was asked who among BOC officials are receiving grease money or “tara”. (Photo<\/a>: Bureau of Customs PH\/ Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA, Aug. 7<\/strong>\u00a0— \u00a0A customs broker on Monday named ranking officials of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) allegedly receiving bribe money to process shipments.<\/p>\n

At a congressional inquiry on\u00a0the 600-kilogram shabu shipment from China, Mark Taguba was asked who among BOC officials are receiving grease money or “tara”.<\/p>\n

The officials he named during the hearing at the\u00a0House of Representatives include:<\/p>\n

BOC\u2019s Intelligence and Investigation Service (CIIS) Director Neil Anthony Estrella; Intelligence Group deputy commissioner Teddy Raval; Import Assessment Services (IAS) Director Milo Maestrecampo; Manila International Container Port district collector Vincent Philip Maronilla; and CIIS officer Teddy Sagaral.<\/p>\n

Also included were a certain \u201cMajor Gutierrez\u201d who passed away last July; a certain \u201cMaita Acebedo\u201d; a certain \u201cJason\u201d of X-ray division; a certain \u201cJojo\u201d; and a certain \u201cGerry\u201d among others.<\/p>\n

Taguba also mentioned a certain “Tita Nani” who gives him tariff codes so shipments would be smoothly cleared.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, Estrella, Raval, Maestrecampo, Maronilla and Sagaral denied Taguba\u2019s allegations.<\/p>\n

Estrella was among the Customs officials who planned the raid against separate Valenzuela City warehouses where the PHP6.4-billion worth of shabu from China was confiscated.<\/p>\n

He categorically denied Taguba\u2019s accusations but he said he would be willing to submit himself to any investigation.<\/p>\n

\u201cKung tumatanggap kami, bakit hinuli namin ang shipment?\u201d Estrella said.<\/p>\n

He also expressed dismay over the effects of such allegations to his reputation as well as that of his family.<\/p>\n

“Pakiramdam ko ho ngayon sasabihin ko sa mga tao ko, ito po yung risk ng ating profession. I will face my accuser in the proper forum,” Estrella said.<\/p>\n

Maestrecampo became emotional when he responded to the allegations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope you realize. I live in a small town. We\u2019re on national television. You have already destroyed me\u2026 I am not receiving money from illicit activities. I\u2019m contented with my sahod (pay) pero binuyangyang na sa media,\u201d Maestrecampo said.<\/p>\n

Maestrecampo also denied knowing \u201cTita Nani\u201d whom Taguba allegedly transacted with on behalf of his office.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I go back to Customs, I will step down from my appointed post. I will submit anything, including my records and my accounts, to the investigation,\u201d the former Magdalo soldier said.<\/p>\n

Raval, for his part, said he has not met or spoken to Taguba prior to the hearing.<\/p>\n

Taguba has claimed that he has been in touch with a certain \u201cGerry\u201d in Raval\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

“I have not met Mr. Taguba prior to this hearing. I only have 5 people on my staff. There is no ‘Jerry’ there,” Raval said.<\/p>\n

Maronilla, meanwhile, said he has not authorized anyone to collect money on his behalf.<\/p>\n

“If there is someone presenting himself to be connected with Office of Collector, as what Mr. Taguba said, I welcome the information and I will investigate it,” he said.<\/p>\n

Sagaral also denied the allegations.<\/p>\n

\u201cNakakalungkot isipin na sira na ang pangalan namin ngayon nationwide. Wala na akong magagawa, pati pangalan ng mga kamaganak dahil sa isang akusasyon,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Like his fellow BOC officials, Sagaral said he is ready to face any investigation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA, Aug. 7\u00a0— \u00a0A customs broker on Monday named ranking officials of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) allegedly receiving bribe …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":103510,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1482,1145,16,95],"tags":[7196,4665],"class_list":["post-110217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","tag-bribery","tag-bureau-of-customs","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110217"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110217\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}