Escudero urges BoC to file smuggling raps vs Virginia Torres

Former Land Transportation Office (LTO) Chief Virginia Torres. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

The Bureau of Customs (BoC) should file smuggling charges against former Land Transportation Office (LTO) chief Virginia Torres for allegedly trying to negotiate the release of P100 million-worth of smuggled Thai sugar, Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero said on Tuesday.

Escudero said the BoC should send a strong message that the administration is serious in its bid to curb smuggling that even perceived administration allies would not be spared.

“Cases must be filed against her if indeed there’s evidence to prove that she intervened or is trying to intervene in an illegal shipment,” he said in a statement.

READ: Bureau of Customs foils ex-LTO chief Virginia Torres

The senator said the BoC should take the cue from Malacañang’s pronouncement that influence peddling will not be tolerated by the administration.

He was referring to Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr.’s earlier statement that if there was proof that Torres committed such prohibited act, then it may be acted upon in accordance with the law.

READ: ‘Law must be applied in Torres’ case’

“If the BoC is fascinated in looking into the measly ‘padala’ of our overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), then the more it should be interested in pursuing the people behind the importation of 64 shipping containers of smuggled sugar worth more than P100 million,” said Escudero, who has been seeking a law against influence-peddling since 2007.

The senator was referring to the BoC’s previous plan to open balikbayan boxes, which was subsequently stopped by President Benigno Aquino III himself after strong objection from various sectors.

Senate Bill No. 118, which Escudero refiled in 2013, provides that “it shall be unlawful for any person to engage in influence peddling or the act of representing oneself, either orally or in writing, as being able, whether real or imagined, to influence, facilitate or assist another person having some business, transaction, application, request or contract with the government in which a public official or employee has to intervene.”

Torres, who is a known ally of Aquino, reportedly tried to plead last month for the release of the illegally imported goods, which were also not covered by import permits by the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA). The said shipping containers were the subject of 24 alert orders of the Intelligence Group of the BOC.

Escudero said the government should train its sights on sugar smuggling rather than targeting the “balikbayan” boxes being sent by OFWs.

“The BoC should run after big-time smugglers instead of molesting our OFWs. The agency is being hard on our OFWs who play a major part in building the economy, but is being easy on those who are ruining it,” the senator said. Maila Ager/IDL