MANILA, Philippines — With the refloating of MKTR Jason Bradley, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) can begin their investigation to determine if it was involved in smuggling.
MKTR Jason Bradley is one of the three vessels that sank off the waters of Bataan last July. It was refloated on Wednesday.
The refloating, Justice Undersecretary Raul Vasquez said, is very important because “we would be able to move one big step forward dahil malalaman na natin kung meron bang oil smuggling o paihi.”
(We will now find out if there was oil smuggling or illegal siphoning involved.)
Vasquez said they were planning to “give them about a week or two for the Coast Guard and for the NBI to come up with a final report on the examination of the oil that was over there, kasi malalaman mo ‘yan kung ‘yan ba ay mga oil na subject of paihi or smuggling kung walang marking (because you’ll know if the oil is subject to illegal siphoning or smuggling if there are no markings).
“Sa batas kasi, ‘yan lahat ng mga properly documented at nagbabayad ng mga custom duties and tariffs ng imported items like oil, meron nilalagay silang marker ang Bureau of Customs,” he explained.
(According to the law, all properly documented items and those paying customs duties and tariffs for imported items like oil are marked by the Bureau of Customs.)
Absence of such indications, Vasquez said that it means the oil entered into the country illegally.
Aside from MKTR Jason Bradley, the other vessels that sank last July in Bataan waters were MT Terranova and MV Mirola.
Vasquez said the investigation of the possible oil smuggling committed by the three vessels is just part of the overall investigation.
“Hindi namin dinidiscount lahat ng aspetong ‘yan at kung meron naman makita na wala naman smuggling e ‘di wala”, he said.
(We are not discounting all possible aspects. If we cannot find any evidence of smuggling, then there will be no case.)
“Magfile tayo ng nararapat na kaso na suportado ng ebidensya. Hindi naman ho tayo naghahanap ng wala,” he said.
(We will file the appropriate case supported by evidence. We are not looking for something that is not there.)