RETIRED Philippine Army 2-star general and former head of the Army’s elite Intelligence Service Group (ISG) MGen. Juvymax Uy, now the Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence (DCI) at the Bureau of Customs (BOC), reiterated his warning for all IG operating units to report everything happening in their respective areas of operations or suffer the consequences.
‘I won’t be ‘blindsided’ and if they try to do it, they’ll have to face the dire consequences,” Uy told Pinoy Exposé, during a conversation at his office this week.
Uy made the remark in the context of past incidents that embroiled the agency in controversies, particularly the importation of illegal drugs.
“When I arrived here, I noticed that they are on their own (“kanya-kanya”) that is why intelligence gathering and sharing is very loose. I change all that.
“Any incident or activity involving smuggling, particularly, illegal drugs, firearms, and ammunition, must be reported immediately to my office or to Director Verne Enciso (head of the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service, CIIS, the IG’s main operating unit– Editor),” the official said.
Aside from leading the ISG, Uy, a member of Philippine Military Academy’s ‘Makatao’ Class of 1989, also served as division commander of the 6th Infantry Division until May 2022. He received his appointment as DCI just months after his retirement, on October 20, 2022.
Under Uy’s leadership, the BOC is expected to double its seizure of smuggled shipments and contraband this year, from over P40 billion last year. As of October, the BOC had already chalked P72.520 billion worth of apprehended smuggled goods, already the highest in the history of agency (see also Pinoy Expose, October 27, 2024).
More drug apprehensions at Clark, NAIA
At the Port of Clark, district collector Jairus Reyes reporter to Commissioner Bienvenido Rubio the apprehension of 4 shipments of high-grade marijuana (‘Kush) last month in the aggregate amount of P4.7 million.
Thru the vigilance of the bureau’s X-Ray Inspection Project (XIP), Reyes said 526 grams of Kush valued at P789,000 declared as ‘men’s track suits’ was seized last October 17.
This was followed with the seizure of a Kush shipment last October 21 weighing 2.1 kilos valued at P3.150 million described as ‘camping sleeping bags.’
On October 25, 472 grams of Kush worth P708,000 was found hidden in a parcel of men’s ‘vintage threads jeans’ last October 25. A separate shipment of 1.232 kilos of cannabis resin worth P77,866 from California, USA, described as “raw honey sample” was also confiscated on the same day.
At the NAIA collection district, district collector Atty. Yasmin Mapa reported to Rubio they intercepted a parcel last October 30 containing 7.154 kilos of Kush valued at over P10 million.
Mapa said the operation was carried out in close coordination with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the NAIA Inter-Agency Drug Interdiction Task Group (NAIA-IADITG).