Philippine Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon has filed a case against a Bureau of Customs (BOC) official who has allegedly been receiving millions of pesos in monthly bribe from smugglers since 2012.
The customs chief, in a media briefing on August 22, said the agency has a “strong case” against Customs Police Captain Arnel Baylosis, whose case folder has already been submitted to the Department of Justice (DOJ) for investigation.
Faeldon said four individuals “who have direct transactions with him testified through affidavit that previously, since 2012, they have been giving bribe money—called tara in the Customs—amounting to at least P100, P220 million pesos monthly.”
He said the affidavits were given to him in the first week of July when he assumed office, but he decided not to break the news until now so that a proper investigation could be conducted.
Faeldon said Baylosis’ name came up as a result of a follow-up investigation conducted over at least 88 seized containers of red onions. The customs chief said the alleged smuggler of the shipments revealed to him the names of the people who supposedly had been facilitating the illegal importation of commodities into the country.
Baylosis denied the allegations, Faeldon said. “That is why I turned over the case folder to the DOJ so that they will be the one to conduct investigation and come up with whatever courses of action it is necessary to be done,” Faeldon said.
Baylosis still reports for work pending recommendations of the DOJ. Faeldon said Baylosis is only one of many BOC employees being probed for alleged corrupt practices, adding that the agency is “continuously isolating and tracking all the bureau officials that are believed to be very corrupt.”
Early in July, Faeldon met with 54 selected BOC officials and gave them a strongly worded message to stop corruption, warning that “if they will persist, the Filipino people will applaud me if I have to kill them one by one.”
Image courtesy of Sira Anamwong at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
