BOC executive denies wife's involvement in controversy

MANILA, Philippines - Bureau of Customs (BOC) Deputy Commissioner Gregorio Chavez has denied allegations that one of those charged with him before the Office of the Ombudsman, a certain Marilyn Jong, was his wife.

Chavez, who also headed the BOC’s Run-After-The-Smugglers (RATS) program, said in a statement that his wife was not involved in the controversy. He said his wife doesn’t answer to that name.

Last week, Sanyo Seiki Stainless Steel Corp. (SSSSC) filed the graft case against Chavez. Also named respondents were the deputy commissioner’s chief of staff Jet Maronilla and collection officer Lucila Medina, chief of the customs bonded warehouse unit. They allegedly conspired with spouses Godofredo and Anabel Mozo, both customs brokers; Leo Peter Paul Gonzales, former chief operating officer of the steel firm; and Marlene Jong, who claims to be Chavez’s wife.

Chavez said that the graft case lodged against him might have been SSSSC’s retaliation since the BOC-RATS slapped a P1.3-billion smuggling case against the company before the Department of Justice (DOJ) early this year.

Last Jan. 20, the BOC sued the firm for allegedly misdeclaring, underweighing and undervaluing its steel and stainless steel importations by almost 90 percent. The steel company’s various importations last year were worth over P1.3 billion but the company reportedly declared the same as having an aggregate value of only P165.4 million.

Sanyo Seiki was suspected to have used false and spurious invoices to bring down its tax and duty obligations to the government from P179.4 million to only P25.3 million.

Chavez believed that the graft suit lodged against him and others before the Office of the Ombudsman was a “desperate attempt to hit back at the Bureau of Customs,” specifically the RATS Group, for initiating a multimillion-peso smuggling case against Gregorio Uy Chan, president SSSSC.

He stressed that the suit merely firmed up his resolve to push to the hilt the smuggling case they filed against Chan.

Customs Commissioner Angelito Alvarez earlier instructed the BOC-Customs Inspection and Investigation Division (CIIS) headed by Dino Tuason to conduct an internal probe on the matter and to submit weekly progress reports. 

Lawyer Luis Angel Aseoche, a partner of the Chavez Miranda Aseoche (CMA) Law Offices, said their client SSSSC would cooperate in the investigation to be conducted by the BOC.

“If we would have to be called, we would participate in the investigation being conducted by the CIIS,” Aseoche said.

“As of now, we trust the commissioner to do the right thing. We don’t know how it would be conducted. They should also get our side,” SSSSC legal counsel Don Carlo Ybañez said, even as he asked that the findings be based on evidence and on law.