THE Bureau of Customs, thru the initiative of the Intelligence Group, initiated the hosting of an ‘Inter-Agency Intelligence Summit’ to further hone its capability to detect and thwart all forms of smuggling in partnership with other relevant law enforcement ang intelligence agencies of the government.
Based on a belated press statement from the bureau’s Public Information and Assistance Division (PIAD), the Summit took place last March 30, 2023, with Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence (DCI) Juvymax Uy and Commissioner Bienvenido Rubio in attendance.
“The summit aimed to strengthen cooperation among national law enforcement agencies and enhance border protection measures against smuggling,” the statement said.
Also in attendance were representatives from the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA), Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the National Security Council (NSC) thru its chief of staff and deputy director general, Benjamin Madrigal.
Madrigal and Uy are former bemedaled and highly-respected Philippine Army officers with Madrigal retiring as Armed Forces (AFP) chief of staff in 2019.
Uy, on the other hand, also previously served as head of the Philippine Army’s elite Intelligence Security Group (ISG) before retiring as a 2-star general and commander of the 6th Infantry ‘Kampilan’ Division in May 2022.
His wide network of intelligence contacts and experience as intelligence officer especially in Mindanao, where he spent the majority of his Army career, is now being credited in the series of successful anti-smuggling operations in the region particularly in Zamboanga and nearby areas.
Uy is an “adopted son” of Zamboanga City in recognition of the critical role he played in maintaining peace and order in the entire peninsula as commander of ‘Task Force Zamboanga.’
On the other hand, Comm. Rubio also started out as an intelligence officer (Special Agent) when he first joined the BOC in 2001.
The holding of the summit would prove timely as the BOC gears for bigger anti-smuggling operations under the leadership of Rubio.
This early, Uy reported that for the first quarter of 2023, the BOC had already apprehended smuggled goods and contrabands totaling more than P19 billion, nearly the same as the total haul of P20.585 billion of smuggled goods it seized in 2019 (see also Pinoy Exposé, April 17, 2023).
Uy expressed confidence that with the full support of Comm. Rubio and other intelligence agencies of the government, the BOC would register bigger anti-smuggling success in the days and months ahead.