BUREAU of Customs Commissioner Bienvenido Rubio vowed ‘heads will roll’ in the agency should anyone be confirmed to have participated in the attempted resale of some P270 million worth of smuggled cigarettes earlier dispatched to a rendering facility in Calamba, Laguna, for their destruction.
Rubio made the assurance after the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) announced it had arrested two persons that it has not yet named for soliciting potential buyers for the cigarettes by reducing the price from P270 million to P250 million.
“I already instructed the Intelligence Group’s Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service (IG-CIIS) to look into this matter and report to me immediately,” the customs chief said.
The head of the CIIS is Director Verne Enciso while the Intelligence Group, which oversees the CIIS, is headed by Deputy Commissioner Juvymax Uy.
“The NBI has our full cooperation, and I promise that anyone (from BOC) found involved in this will be held accountable. Heads will roll,” Rubio said in a statement on February 22.
“We are one with the NBI and thank them in the fight against cigarette smuggling. We have made significant progress in this regard, seizing P5.1 billion worth of e-cigarettes/vapes and P4.1 billion worth of tobacco and cigarettes, for a total of almost P9.3 billion last year,” he added.
Port of Subic Acting District Collector Marlon Fritz Broto, said he has already formed a team headed by the port’s Auction and Cargo Disposal Unit (ACDU) to coordinate with the NBI, and “to provide clarity” regarding the seized cigarettes.
Records show the smuggled cigarettes arrived in two batches, between July 2021 and June 2022 with four containers consigned to ‘Hongcim International Corporation’ and one container to ‘Proline Logistics Philippines’ (Pinoy Exposé, August 11, 2022).
The consignees, however, simply abandoned the shipments leading to their seizure and the scheduling of their disposal thru destruction, as provided for under customs laws.
“Once the bond was settled, the process began and the condemnation started last January 6 and again on February 9 when the last three containers were transported to the said facility,” Broto said.
Even as the probe ordered by Rubio is yet to render a report, Broto hinted that no customs personnel may have been involved.
He claimed that the NBI buy bust that resulted to the arrest of the two suspects occurred “during a shift change for ACDU, ESS, and CIIS Port of Subic Customs personnel guarding the condemnation process” and that the condemnation of the cigarettes “occurred within the regulatory period.”
The BOC also confirmed ‘Hazchem North,’ a waste disposal company operating out of Bgy. Makiling, Calamba City, Laguna, was contracted to dispose the cigarettes.
“This is the same company whose owner the NBI said allegedly ordered his environmental consultant to find a buyer for the goods,” the BOC said in a statement.