President Aquino challenged

The Bureau of Customs Employees Association (BOCEA) called a press conference to express their disgust over President Aquino’s SONA speech condemning corruption in the Bureau of Customs.

BOCEA president Romulo Pagulayan accused the President of “sweeping generalizations and talking of statistics without basis, slapped on Customs employees’ faces by these influential persons close to the speechwriters of the President.”

The 3,000 Customs employees wore black arm bands to demonstrate their protest.

The Customs employees have in effect challenged President Aquino to substantiate his charges as they in effect deny any corruption in the Bureau.

President Aquino must come out firing with more details on his reports of Customs corruption. He must relieve the top officials of BOC.

Last year, 2,000 containers were found missing as they were authorized to be transshipped from MICT to Batangas. Big time oil smuggling is going on.

Pork growers headed by Abono Party-List have long decried the continuing smuggling of frozen meat from China. Fifty containers of frozen meat intercepted at Subic have disappeared.

Farmers have also long complained of the smuggling of onions, garlic, and other agricultural products.

Local tile manufacturers have complained to the Secretary of Finance about the huge importation of ceramic tiles from China.

Chinese dry goods have flooded Divisoria stores. Hundreds of cars and trucks have also been smuggled including luxury cars such as Mercedes Benz, Lamborghini, Rolls Royce, Ferrari, Porsche, and BMW.

Lifestyle checks on Customs personnel have yielded extreme wealth even by ordinary Customs police.

As President Aquino said, “kapal ng mukha ng Customs personnel.” This is again true of their presscon charges hurled at the President.

The ball is now in the President’s hands.

Corruption at DA

The latest story of pork barrel irregularity involves P90 million of PDAF funds of 8 Congressmen released through the Department of  Agriculture (DA).

This is nothing new. The Department of Agriculture was notorious for its overpriced and fake purchases of fertilizers, of poor-quality certified seeds and overpriced post harvest equipment.

But the biggest scam at the DA is the release of farm-to-market road funds to municipal mayors. The DA has a P12-billion fund for farm-to-market roads. Most of the projects turned out to be ghost projects. Typical releases amounted to P20 million for a municipality. The list of these projects must be released. COA must check the use of farm-to-market roads by DA, DPWH, DILG, and DAR.

Already reported is the irregular implementation of projects by the National Irrigation Administration (NIA).

Also under the DA is the National Food Authority which is notorious for corrupt deals in the importation, local purchase, and the allocation of rice to local dealers.

Other instances of corruption in the DA is the issuance of import permits for onions, garlic, fruits, vegetables, and even frozen meat.

Listen to media

Secretary Edwin Lacierda said that investigative journalism is part of press freedom.

For the last 3 years, columnists Jarius Bondoc, Alex Magno, Federico Pascual and this writer have consistently written on instances of corruption under the Aquino administration.

Many instances of corruption at the Bureau of Customs and Immigration Bureau have been reported by STAR columnists.

President Aquino and Malacañang should take serious note of irregularities exposed by columnists. We get reliable reports and we check them out.

FPI weighs in

The Federation of Philippine Industries headed by Jesus Aranza said yesterday that a revamp of Customs personnel will not solve the smuggling problem. He said there must be a complete overhaul of the system.

He gave 26 recommendations to stop technical smuggling. But there is also the problem of outright smuggling considering our wide coastline of 7,100 islands. Unfortunately, we have a small Philippine Coast Guard force.

It is also valid to say that 3,000 personnel in 54 ports of entry cannot do the job.

Not acceptable

 After being swamped with new barangay and SK registrants, Comelec Chairman Sixto “Boy” Brillantes Jr. now calls for the abolition of Barangay and SK Councils.

This is unacceptable. Barangay officials perform vital functions in the development of barangays. They also help in the peace and order campaign. Anyway, the proposal to revive will never get congressional approval.

The proposal to abolish SK councils has long been pending. It has not gotten enough support.

Too little

DFA Secretary Albert Del Rosario announced that the United States is increasing its military aid to the Philippines from $30 million to $50 million.

This is small compared to the billions given to Israel, Colombia, South Korea, and Indonesia. Even Egypt gets $1.5 billion in US aid.

Yes, we are still being treated like a poor cousin. We should use the proposal to give US forces access to Subic as a bargaining chip to increase the $50 million.

The richest

Fifty Filipino families own 25% of the nation’s GDP. Henry Sy is No. 1 with $12 billion followed by Lucio Tan with $7.5 billion, and Andrew Tan is 3rd with $4.6 billion. Enrique Razon is 4th with $4.5 billion. John Gokongwei is 5th with $3.4 billion.

Lucio Co is in 10th place with $1.9 billion. Manny Villar is in 16th place with $1.05 billion net worth. Ramon Ang is at No. 31 while Manny Pangilinan is at No. 50.

Once again, we see 3% of Filipinos owning 90% of the country’s wealth, proving the gap between the rich and the poor is getting wider.

Train accidents

Train accidents in Canada, France, Spain, Switzerland, and bus accidents in Italy have left hundreds dead or injured.

The proposal to revive the Philippine National Railway service to Bicol must be studied well. It appears our old railroad tracks are no longer safe.      

TIDBITS: It takes 36 days to register a new business in the Philippines. It takes 3 days in Singapore and 6 days in Malaysia.

Juanito Delfin, 40, was shot dead at the Manila City Hall underpass.

Greetings to avid readers Tita and Bing De Villa, Fr. Steve Villanueva, and Bishop Ted Bacani.