Suspended exec says BOC ignored warning on drug shipment

Published: 5:08 p.m., Aug. 2, 2017 | Updated: 7:53 a.m., Aug. 3, 2017

Suspended risk management officer Larribert Hilario of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) revealed that he tried to request an alert order on the shipment that turned out to contain P6.4 billion worth of “shabu” (crystal meth).

However, Hilario said Import Assessment Services (IAS) Director Milo Maestrecampo did not act upon the request, which would have resulted in a full physical examination of the shipment.

This, he said, explained how the drug shipment was allowed to leave the port on May 23 in the first place.

Hilario surfaced during the House of Representatives’ ways and means committee hearing on Wednesday, after being blamed by customs officials at the Senate for failing to flag the shipment as high-risk.

As part of the BOC’s selectivity system, products imported into the country pass through four lanes, depending on the risk level: super-green, green, yellow and red.

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The kitchenware shipment consigned to EMT Trading, which turned out to contain shabu, went through the green lane because of the lack of parameters that would signal the need for stricter inspection.

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Airing his side for the first time, Hilario said the risk management office had no ability to change the tags.

But alarm bells rang because the input for the suspect shipment was entered by customs broker Teejay Marcellana, whom he said had previous derogatory records.

Alert order request

At the time, Marcellana signed entries of nearly identical amounts and all were assessed at having P40,000 in value-added taxes for importation of varying quantities.

Hilario said he immediately told the BOC command center and suggested that the Import Assessment Service issue an alert order on the suspicious shipment.

However, he said, Maestrecampo replied on May 22 that the request could not be acted upon.

List of new importers

Drugs could have been intercepted in hindsight, Hilario said.

“The importations should have been put on hold and there should have been physical examinations. All the contents of the container, they would be opened and examined if they were declared correctly,” he said.

“Had my request been approved inside the BOC, we would have already known that it contained the [metal] cylinders [that contained the drugs],” he said.

Hilario added that despite various requests, he was never furnished an updated list of new importers.

This could have informed the system that EMT Trading was a new importer—usually a parameter that would have warranted random inspections.

Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon, who relieved Hilario after the drugs were seized in a May 29 raid at a Valenzuela City warehouse, said: “That’s the first time I heard the side of Attorney Hilario.”

This surprised Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas, who sat beside Hilario during the hearing and earlier announced the officer was placed under the House’s protective custody.

When Fariñas asked if he did not bother to listen before verbally suspending Hilario, Faeldon said the officer did not give an explanation before.

The customs commissioner added that he was informed Hilario had failed to mark the shipment and thus, “the neglect of duty is very strong.”

Pressed by Fariñas on the source of the information, however, Faeldon said: “I still have to find out who specifically… I have so many employees.”

Maestrecampo denies authority For his part, Maestrecampo said he did not have the authority to issue the alert order requested by Hilario. “What I have is recommendatory power to alert when the things being questioned is matters of valuation and computation of fees,” he said, adding that it was the ComCen. However, Fariñas rebutted that a memorandum issued by Deputy Commissioner Edward James Dy Buco delegated to Maestrecampo the power to issue alert orders on shipments with suspected violations and suspicious valuations. “Any alert from other [Customs] officers should be referred to IAS for appropriate action: In this memo, only you can take action,” he said. Maestrecampo also explained that the shipment was not deemed “alertable” because “we have no reference but the value being declared.” He noted that the notice was about valuation. And when he checked, Maestrecampo said the value presented for some of the shipment was more than the value required by the Customs.

For Fariñas: “This is how the smugglers outsmart you!”