The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has recommended the filing of graft charges against former Customs commissioner and now Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) director general Isidro Lapeña in connection with containers released without authority at the Port of Manila (POM) last March.
In a 35-page filing before the Department of Justice on November 12, the NBI recommended that Lapeña and one unidentified individual be charged for violating Section 3, Paragraph (e) of Republic Act No. 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, as well as administratively charged with gross neglect of duty and grave misconduct.
Further, NBI recommended that the Office of the Solicitor General review the contract for cargo-handling and -related services between the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) and terminal operator Asian Terminals Inc. (ATI). ATI operates the POM.
On March 22, BOC announced the discovery of 105 alerted containers from China withdrawn from POM without proper release. While duties and taxes of the containers had been paid, the shipments were found to have violated Section 1400 (misdeclaration, misclassification, and undervaluation in goods declaration) of the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act (CMTA) and subject to an alert order by the Office of the Commissioner (OCOM).
Upon inventory, the POM district collector found the 103 containers were illegally released on March 17, while two other containers were immediately apprehended before they could exit through the terminal gates.
BOC claimed all 105 alerted containers were released by ATI without the required lifting order authorized by the Customs commissioner.
ATI has denied any wrongdoing in the release, saying “ATI released the containers after BOC issued a release instruction through the On-Line Release System (OLRS), part of BOC’s e2m Alert System, over which ATI does not have any control.”
The port operator added release through the OLRS means that all duties and taxes have been paid and that there are no holds on the container.
BOC has earlier filed charges against owners, officials, and customs brokers of companies, logistics service providers, and ATI officials allegedly involved in the unauthorized release of the shipments. Some customs officials were also relieved or administratively suspended.
The NBI recommendations against the former Customs commissioner came out after Surigao del Sur 2nd District Representative Robert Ace Barbers opined Lapeña was not accountable for the release of another set of shipments that may have contained P11 billion worth of illegal drugs that slipped past BOC.
President Rodrigo Duterte on October 24 relieved Lapeña from his BOC post after Lapeña acknowledged that illegal drugs may have been concealed in magnetic scrap lifters, a claim he had on many occasions previously denied.
