Plunder raps filed vs Customs man

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) filed plunder charges yesterday against a collection officer of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) for his failure to remit some P53 million, covering three years in collections at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) customs house.

NBI director Reynaldo Wycoco presented suspect Ernest Fajardo, 45, and resident of El Grande Avenue, BF Homes, Las Piñas City during a press conference yesterday.

Fajardo merely shook his head when asked to comment on the charges leveled against him. Aside from the capital offense of plunder, Fajardo will also be charged with malversation of public funds at the Department of Justice.

Wycoco said Fajardo’s arrest was made on the request of Customs Commissioner Antonio Bernardo, who claimed the suspect failed to remit sales of accountable forms with money value and stamps, which deprived the national government of much-needed revenues.

"As we throw the book at Mr. Fajardo for his folly, I want to declare that we at the bureau will continue to crack down on erring employees and officials," Bernardo said at the press conference. "We will not stop until these people are put behind bars. This is the only way to rid the bureau of the few scalawags who have given the entire agency a very bad reputation."

An initial audit conducted by Prudencia Bautista of the Commission on Audit (COA) revealed that Fajardo had an unremitted collection of P20,118,355 from sales of documentary stamps from January to October 2002.

Based on Bautista’s findings, Wycoco directed NBI-National Capital Region chief Edmund Arugay to conduct a deeper probe, which later showed that the suspect failed to remit P53,214,258 from 2000-2002.

Last Wednesday, Arugay and Customs Collector Celso Temlo demanded remittance of the P53 million from Fajardo, but the latter failed to comply, prompting the NBI to place the him under arrest.

According to Bernardo, Fajardo has been assigned to the customs house since 1982. "What we have checked so far were collections from 2000 to 2002. He has been in service since 1982, which covers 20 years. We will be working with the COA to find out whether there are still additional amounts," the BOC chief said.