Bert Lina a poor choice

Alberto Lina is a poor choice as replacement for John Phillip Sevilla who resigned as commissioner of the Bureau of Customs (BOC).

Lina owns several companies which deal with the customs bureau.

Clearly, there would be conflict of interest on his part.

Lina was also the owner of LGC Logistics which was exposed in 2005 by three congressmen as having an allegedly irregular P100-million contract per year with the BOC.

Although he divested himself of his interests in LGC before accepting the customs post the first time around, the fact remained that he owned the company.

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Sevilla should be hailed for exposing the “political pressure” he was put under as customs chief.

Previous customs commissioners were big contributors for the party in power during election periods.

Sevilla did not want to take part in these shenanigans, so he resigned.

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On orders from the Supreme Court, Makati Regional Trial Court Judge Joselito Villarosa has ordered the return of all the equipment and important documents which he confiscated from a business process outsourcing (BPO) office.

The order came from Court Administrator Midas Marquez, whose position is equivalent to a justice of the Court of Appeals.

The Office of the Court Administrator, which is directly under the high tribunal, receives complaints against judges.

Villarosa was fuming when he received the order from Marquez but he couldn’t do anything but comply, according to a reliable source.

It was clearly an abuse of judicial power on Villarosa’s part when he ordered the BPO office closed even though it didn’t have anything to do with a tug-of-war between the old and new owners of the building where it was renting space.

The BPO, owned by a Swede and his Filipino wife, has been padlocked by Villarosa for a month now.

The couple came to me for help; I referred them to Justice Marquez.

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When the BPO, located in a building on Vito Cruz Extension and Venecia Street in Makati City, was shut down, scores of policemen in full battle gear and private security guards were deployed to implement the order.

To outsiders, it seemed like the policemen were looking for drugs or contraband in the BPO office.

The cops and security guards detained the Swede’s wife inside her office for hours and prevented anyone from bringing her food.

The cops said they were following orders from Judge Villarosa.

He should be investigated by the Supreme Court.