Customs broker links Faeldon staffer to bribery

Nicanor Faeldon

Licensed broker Mark Taguba has linked yet another person to alleged bribery at the Bureau of Customs (BOC), claiming this time that a lawyer from Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon’s office received “tara” (grease money) on shipments.

During the hearing of the House of Representatives ways and means committee on Wednesday, which ended at 1:25 a.m., Rep. Robert Ace Barbers dropped the name of lawyer Chris Bolastig.

When Barbers asked Taguba to describe who Bolastig was, the immunity-cloaked witness replied: “He was said to be the one collecting for the Office of the Commissioner.”

This prompted Barbers, whose dangerous drugs committee holds a separate inquiry on the BOC controversy, to move to subpoena Bolastig.

“Maybe he’s the missing link,” Barbers said.

Taguba had admitted to paying Customs personnel up to P34,500 per container van to speed up the processing of his shipments and avoid the possibility of getting flagged for stricter inspection.

But, on Wednesday night, he claimed that his operation, which covered 100 shipments weekly, paled  in comparison to that of a certain “Kimberly,” who supposedly brought in 250 shipments weekly.

This Kimberly also allegedly dealt with Bolastig’s group.

Meanwhile, Taguba also clarified that Nanie Koh, of the Auction and Cargo Disposal Division under Port Operation Service director James Layug, was not the same “Tita Nanie” who supposedly collected payoffs in exchange for tariff codes to clear his cargo.

Koh turned emotional after the witness cleared her name.

“I hope this won’t happen again because it’s not only me who’s affected but my family, too,” she said.

Lawmakers have previously expressed doubts on Taguba’s credibility after he took back his statement on Monday evening, hours after claiming that Customs personnel received the payoffs on behalf of several high-ranking BOC officials.

He said he only meant to identify the offices that received the grease money by pointing to the officials who headed them.

The bribery allegation was dug up as the House investigated how 605 kilograms of “shabu” (crystal meth) worth P6.4 billion, dubbed the largest haul of smuggled drugs yet in the country, managed to slip past port controls in May.

Meanwhile, Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service Director Neil Estrella told lawmakers that he already submitted his courtesy resignation on Monday. Lawmakers had berated Estrella for violating procedures in carrying out drug operations and in handling evidence.

Estrella said he recently received information the suspected exporter of the shipment that concealed the drugs was already caught  in China.

However, he said there were no details yet as to the suspect’s identity.