Still on our fight against corruption

Exactly a week ago, we asked the question "How serious are we in the fight against corruption?" We wrote about what is happening at the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) after BIR chief Guillermo Parayno went on a crusade to weed out tax evaders with his RATE program, which stands for Running After Tax Evaders. It seems that the BIR has gotten the attention of the nation, more so now that its next target is "Asia’s Songbird" Regine Velasquez. I gathered from high up in the BIR that they would be revealing on a weekly basis more celebrity tax evaders and we can only cheer them on.

But then, all these names would be useless if the courts can’t give special attention to these cases and throw to jail a single tax evader. This is very similar to the campaign against video piracy, where so many apprehensions are made, but yet no one has gone to jail for this crime.

However, I was given some kind of assurance by top BIR officials that the case of actor Richard Gomez, for instance, is a "no-brainer" simply because he only has to show documents that he did file his income tax return to prove his innocence. So perhaps the BIR should cover all avenues and double-check if all of a sudden, some spurious tax documents surface. After all, you can get any legal document, from passports to diplomas, in Quiapo.

Meanwhile, at the Bureau of Customs (BOC) front, the big surprise last Thursday came when local newspapers reported that all of a sudden, Cebu Customs Collector Billy Bibit, whom we’ve targeted in last week’s columns, has been replaced by Commissioner Alberto Lina. No, we’re not claiming that Bibit got booted out because of our columns, but the official reason for his ouster is almost the same excuse the Cebu media got when my good friend Angelo Verdan of the Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA) couldn’t assume office because of lack of eligibility, where the Civil Service Commission (CSC) virtually demanded to have him removed.

But how serious is the CSC then in stopping non-eligible government officials from holding office? Well, everyone in Cebu is well aware that the current director of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) in Region 7 also isn’t civil service-qualified. But how come the CSC is allowing this fellow to stay on? Do we have two sets of rules in the civil service… or are they merely turning a blind eye on his case?

Meanwhile, we welcome Malacañang’s effort to get Bibit out of Cebu as there was no doubt that his stay was already untenable in the sense that too many ugly incidents have happened at the Bureau of Customs that he has become an embarrassment to the Arroyo administration. I gathered further that Bibit’s replacement, Atty. Roger Lim, who takes over as acting district collector of the Port of Cebu, is a good man. Good maybe, but honest? We’ll have to find out!

However, let me say it here that so often, when things get too hot in one place, a public official like a police chief or a Customs officer gets removed from a place to turn the heat off. Call it the "changing chairs" routine if you wish, but certainly, getting a government official with a questionable record doesn’t make things right. If you ask me, Bibit or any recently booted-out government official for that matter should never be given any post in the Bureau of Customs until he answers our queries about car smuggling in Cebu... specifically who owns that 6-series BMW.

Indeed, under Bibit’s watch, we saw that brand new BMW 645 Ci coupe roam the streets of Cebu City with an "8" plate and when we wrote about this, Bibit seemed to have taken the Mafia code of "Omerta," which means, he zipped his mouth shut. But that attitude still doesn’t satisfy our queries as to who owns this 6-series BMW sporting a number "8" plate. For sure, the owner has stopped using this car as it is just too hot to handle.

On a final note, perhaps the House of Representatives should also show its transparency and reveal to the public how many number "8" plates are allowed each congressman. I know that they have at least two such plates, one for their vehicle in Manila and the other for their respective district. But like what we asked Rep. Raul del Mar, what’s the penalty for motorists who use unauthorized plate numbers? P500? If you ask me, this should be a crime as clearly, pretending to be a congressman is fraud!

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Did we just talk about fraud and video piracy? It seems that the Optical Media Board (OMB) is doing raids in Metro Manila and its efforts get splashed in the press so that the public would believe that it is doing something about video piracy. Well, the OMB is barely scratching the surface as there are no such raids in Cebu City or the other key cities of the country!

I went to the E-Mall in downtown Cebu City last Thursday and bought a computer game which turned out to be a dud... meaning, it wouldn’t work! I really thought that the product was genuine as the cover and the CD inside were very well made. So I went back to the E-Mall to ask whether it was genuine as it did not have a serial number key. Oh, they gave me a key password which still didn’t work. Convinced that this was a pirated computer game, I went back to ask for a refund and the storekeeper wouldn’t give me a refund. They would only entertain a swap with other "pirated" products. As to why Ash Enterprises was given some kind of legitimacy by E-Mall, I really don’t know. But definitely, the OMB isn’t doing anything in Cebu City where piracy is rampant!

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Did I congratulate Valeriano Loon who recently passed the Bar exam too soon? He is a lowly security guard from northern Cebu, who took up law because a property developer absconded with the land of his family. Now he is already a lawyer… or is he? Yes, the very same property developer who has a string of cases in Cebu, thanks to corruption, has filed a petition in the Supreme Court to stop Loon from taking his oath. If you ask me, this is injustice of the highest order... that a rich couple who tramples on the poor, goes all the way to the Supreme Court to stop this poor man from becoming a lawyer.

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For e-mail responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit Avila’s columns can also be accessed through www.thefreeman.com. He also hosts a weekly talk show, "Straight from the Sky," shown every Monday, at 8 p.m., only in Metro Cebu on Channel 15 of SkyCable.