Task forces ‘at work’

The Naval Intelligence and Security Force (NISF), which gathers information about enemies of the state, has arrogated unto itself a new job: going after suspected smugglers and making money off them.

The NISF sent an intelligence report to Customs Commissioner Bert Lina saying that incoming shipments might contain highly-dutiable goods but the importers would only pay low tariff for them.

Lina, possibly  dazzled by the NISF’s reputation for accurate intelligence, ordered the holding of 200 containers for inspection, according to my customs sources.

But what Lina doesn’t know, my customs sources said, is that certain officers at the NISF are being used by some corrupt customs officials to make the false reports.

These customs officials approach the importers who own the shipments to extort money from them.

The loot is allegedly divided among the customs officials and NISF officers, according to customs insiders.

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There are also reports of another government agency whose members are allegedly into extortion, with importers for victims,
—the Department of Trade and Industry’s Fair Trade and Enforcement Bureau.

The fair trade bureau has formed a task force to go after “suspected” shipments coming out of the piers.

The task force reportedly lays in wait for trucks loaded with suspected containers outside the customs zone.

My sources say some members of the task force collect P25,000 for each suspected container.

Hundreds of containers come out of the Manila South Harbor and the Manila International Container Port every day.

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The task force is actually a breakaway group of the bigger Task Force Pantalan which was formed by Cabinet Secretary Rene Almendras.

Task Force Pantalan, aimed at decongesting the piers, has been given the additional (and a potentially more lucrative) job of going after smuggled shipments leaving the piers.

I have reported this allegation of  corruption to Secretary Almendras based on numerous reports I  received from unimpeachable sources at the customs bureau.

But Almendras, it seems, is pussyfooting.

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The court battle between a father and his son for possession of a company the father founded, is becoming messier every time because the son’s lawyers keep filing motions for inhibition against the judge trying the case.

Several judges, out of a sense of propriety, have kept their hands off the battle royal after a motion for inhibition has been filed against them by the lawyers of the son-litigant.

When the lawyers feel that the judge  appears to favor the father-litigant, they would immediately ask the judge to inhibit himself.

The reason given by the lawyers is always “bias” or “perceived partiality.”

The tactic of these new lawyers, it seems, is a first in the country’s jurisprudence.