Ombudsman suspends Customs police chief

The chief of the Bureau of Customs special police was suspended yesterday by the Ombudsman for six months following charges of unexplained wealth, grave misconduct and dishonesty.

Ombudsman Simeon Marcelo ordered Customs commissioner Alexander Arevalo to immediately implement the preventive suspension without pay against Jose Yuchongco, special police chief of the Customs Police Division.

In a statement signed by public assistance bureau director Marlyn Galvez, the Ombudsman disclosed that Yuchongco was being investigated for alleged ill-gotten wealth, in connection with the rise of his assets from his BOC stint from 1982 to 2004.

An investigation conducted by the Revenue Integrity Protection Service (RIPS) of the Department of Finance, the official’s properties include a "huge multi-million mansion" in Hillsborough subdivision in Muntinlupa City.

But while records of the property had been transferred to a certain Margarita Gapultos, the "transfer was resorted to as an attempt to be cleared from an internal inquiry on his alleged unexplained wealth."

The Ombudsman noticed that this property was not reflected in the statement of assets and liabilities (SAL) Yuchongco filed in 1995, which raised doubts as to how he was able to acquire such with his meager salary.

Yuchongco’s SAL for 10 years, from 1994 to 2004, likewise "failed" to declare his ownership of an "agricultural property in Oas, Albay as well as his wife’s ownership of a 32,593-square meter property in San Jose, Batangas."

Acquisition of such real estate properties, Galvez said, is highly questionable since the only "substantiated" source of Yuchongco’s lawful income was his BOC employment from 1982 to 2004.

According to the Ombudsman, such acquisition of assets makes them "all the more impossible and incredible," considering that his annual legitimate income was just P256,000, "as of August 1998."

"Immigration records showed that his family made frequent foreign trips in the last 10 years. This further makes suspect Yuchongco’s real net worth and the actual sources of his income considering his modest salary as a government employee," the Ombudsman said.