Agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) recently apprehended a container van full of misdeclared items outside the customs zone in Manila. It was a slap in the face of Bureau of Customs (BOC) officials.
Instead of bags, the 40-foot van contained highly-dutiable goods like cell phone accessories, car parts, electrical components, ECG machines, air compressors and various medicine.
The NBI agents were carrying an authority to search for and seize smuggled goods signed by Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre.
The van came from the Manila International Container Port (MICP) headed by Customs Collector Balmyrson Valdez.
Ironically, Valdez had been advising Customs Commissioner Sid Lapeña to withhold the release of many shipments suspected to contain highly-dutiable goods, according to sources at the BOC.
Valdez’s “wrong advice” to his boss has led to a P6-billion deficit in revenue collections in January alone, said some importers and brokers.
The amount was P4 billion short of the deficit incurred by dismissed Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon in eight months, customs insiders told me.
Now that NBI agents are on the lookout for possible smuggled items coming out of Manila ports, the collusion between smugglers and personnel of the Port of Manila and MICP will be minimized.
The NBI will be focused more on going after corrupt customs men than in going after misdeclared cargo, according to my sources at the law enforcement agency.
“We are more interested in finding out the officials and employees who released the smuggled shipments than the contents of the cargo,” said an NBI official who did not want to be identified.
Its participation in the antismuggling drive was apparently the result of the release of a shipment containing P6.4 billion worth of “shabu” or crystal meth from the customs zone during Faeldon’s watch.
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Rich Zhang (Zhang Yongdong), a young mainland Chinese billionaire, has joined a myriad of applicants who want to set up a telecommunications firm in the country.
Should it win in the bidding, Zhang’s company would break up the duopoly of Globe and Smart which are giving cell phone and internet users very inefficient service.
Zhang, who paid a courtesy call on President Digong on Tuesday, owns Northcom Group Co. Ltd., the only privately-owned telecommunications firm in China. The rest are owned by the government.
The 42-year-old billionaire also owns Bao Shang Bank, HKB China Bank, Yang Quan City Commercial Bank, Jin Zhong Bank and the Freeman Financial Group.
Zhang has donated P200 million for the rehabilitation of Marawi City.