The Bureau of Customs (BOC) has relieved and charged more officials and employees of the Port of Zamboanga following the reported disappearance of thousands of sacks of rice from the port’s custody.
Aside from district collector Lyceo Martinez and customs police district commander Felimeno Salazar, also administratively removed from their posts were customs operations officer and acting chief of Port Operations Division (POD) Vicente Eduardo Torres and special agent I Oscar Farin from the Enforcement and Security Service (ESS)-Customs Police District.
The officials were likewise administratively charged with gross neglect of duty, grave misconduct, and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service.
Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapeña issued the relief orders on October 5, 2018 following the report and recommendations made by the investigation team of BOC.
Martinez was administratively charged for failing to immediately issue a warrant of seizure and detention (WSD) against the smuggled rice, considering that the rice shipments had no valid supporting papers when apprehended.
He was also found to have failed to institute measures to secure the 23,015 sacks of smuggled rice. Reportedly, an inventory was conducted before the goods were hauled by trucks out of the Ben Go wharf without a customs officer in charge or underguarding.
Meanwhile, Salazar was charged administratively for his failure, as the district commander of Zamboanga’s customs police district, to safely secure the smuggled rice under the custody of BOC.
The administrative charge also states that during the inventory conducted on September 27 to 28, 2018, the smuggled rice was then hauled out of the wharf unmonitored by his office.
Torres was charged administratively for failing, as acting chief of POD-Zamboanga, to continuously monitor the movements of the sacks of rice and ensure they were properly delivered, stored, and kept safe at BOC-accredited warehouses.
Farin, the witness during the inventory, was also charged administratively for failing to verify whether BOC had authorized the trucks used for hauling and to determine the ultimate destinations of the trucks.
Meanwhile, BOC said a major turnaround was discovered in the course of its in-depth investigation.
In a press release issued by BOC on October 5, it stated that some 16,000 sacks of rice had been recovered on October 1 and 2 from various warehouses as indicated in the report made by Martinez.
However, according to warehousemen, the stored sacks of rice found in the warehouses Martinez raided were all covered by legal documents.
The sacks of rice found in these warehouses are now under further investigation.
Lapeña has directed customs authorities to exert all efforts to recover and make a full accounting of the missing rice.
During the investigation, it was also discovered that two of the three apprehended vessels, ML Jasmin Michelle and ML Habiba, were allegedly owned by Mayor Limuel Que of Bongao, Tawi-Tawi. Certain individuals claiming knowledge of the ownership of the vessels have executed their affidavits.
Lapeña has also written the Secretary of the Department of Interior and Local Government to inform him of this recent development.
It can be recalled that on September 22, 2018, joint elements from the Philippine Coast Guard, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, and the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines intercepted three vessels containing 23,015 sacks of smuggled rice in Zamboanga City.
The sacks were then turned over to BOC-Zamboanga but were later reported to have gone missing.
According to Lapeña, before disappearing, the sacks of rice had been checked and found negative of the presence of illegal drugs.
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