Farmers’ group seeks ouster of Davao-based judge

MANILA, Philippines – A complaint has been filed with the Supreme Court seeking to dismiss a Davao-based judge for issuing a restraining order against the Bureau of Customs from seizing 91,800 bags of imported white rice.

The case stemmed after Joseph Mangupag Ngo filed before the Davao court a petition to stop the BOC from seizing his rice importation, saying the government cannot impose quantitative restrictions on the importation of rice because of the expiration of the Special Treatment for Rice Importation.

The 91,800 bags of imported rice were bought from Starcraft International Trading Corp. with alleged links to big-time smuggler Davidson Bangayan.

In a 24-page complaint filed at the Supreme Court Monday, the Alyansa Agrikultura and the National Rice Farmers Council through Ernesto Ordonez and Jaime Tadeo said Davao Regional Trial Court Branch 16 Judge Emmanuel Carpio exhibited “gross ignorance of the law.”

The group said the court proceeded in hearing the case without representatives from the government.

They added that the government was also not given the opportunity to present its evidence.

Complainants added that Ngo has no authority to invoke the World Trade Organization-General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (WTO-GATT).

The complainant said Carpio’s errors are proof of lack of competency, which a member of the judiciary should possess, they said. “For these severe infractions, the supreme penalty of dismissal is but an appropriate sanction,” the petition read.

“Judges should never forget what the Court categorically declared in Mison v. Natividad (213 SCRA 734, 742 [1992] that “[b]y express provision of law, amply supported by well-settled jurisprudence, the Collector of Customs has exclusive jurisdiction over seizure and forfeiture proceedings, and regular courts cannot interfere with his exercise thereof or stifle or put it to naught,” the petition stated.

RELATED STORY

Gov’t lost P1.3T to smugglers in 9 years