Lina makes harshest critic partner vs smuggling

In a surprising move, Customs Commissioner Alberto Lina has deputized his bureau’s severest critic, the Sugar Alliance of the Philippines (SAP), as the agency’s “monitoring agent” and partner in its campaign against sugar smuggling.

Lina himself confirmed this to the Inquirer, saying “all’s well that ends well.”

Lina and SAP chair Manuel Lamata are scheduled to sign Friday an agreement that will formally designate the association as one of the Bureau of Customs’ (BOC) partners in antisugar smuggling operations.

Lamata had earlier called for Lina’s resignation, saying that he was “no good for the industry and no good for the country” for allegedly allowing sugar smuggling to flourish.

The SAP,  the country’s biggest group of sugar planters and millers, has expressed increasing frustration over the customs bureau’s failure to curb the entry of smuggled sugar into the country. It has written twice to President Aquino, condemning the “dramatic increase in sugar smuggling during the past four months.”

It said the increase in smuggling “sadly coincides with the appointment of Commissioner Lina as head of the BOC.”

In its May 23 letter to the President, the SAP said sugar smuggling had “skyrocketed in the past four months as syndicates have become more confident in trying to bring in contraband, even at the Manila International Container Port (MICP), supposedly our premier port.”

It said that during the same period, the BOC’s Intelligence Group, with SAP’s help, seized 122 shipping containers filled with smuggled sugar at the MICP.

Lamata earlier urged Lina to deputize the SAP’s Sugar Anti-Smuggling Office, or Saso, “so it can help him stop sugar smuggling. Otherwise, he should resign.”

A draft of the bureau’s deputization order, a copy of which was obtained by the Inquirer, said that as monitoring agents of the BOC, Saso personnel will be given “full authority to coordinate with BOC offices in the Philippines and their respective personnel to ensure the prevention of sugar smuggling” in the country.

The same personnel will also be given “entry to BOC offices and facilities and access to all data and information necessary to perform their duty to stop the smuggling of sugar.”

But a SAP official said that until they see Lina’s signature on the agreement, “they will remain cautious.”