PASG recovers missing P60-million machine

MANILA, Philippines - The Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group recovered over the weekend in Valenzuela City a replicating machine believed to be the same P60-million device the PASG and the Optical Media Board (OMB) seized in a raid on a Quezon City warehouse in April.

The machine’s subsequent “mysterious disappearance” triggered a spat between PASG and the OMB under erstwhile chairman Edu Manzano, the PASG said in a statement yesterday.

The replicating machine had been disassembled when found by the PASG-National Bureau of Investigation Special Operations Group led by NBI deputy director Edmund Arugay in a warehouse in Industrial Subdivision at Barangay Dalandanan.

The PASG operatives conducted a surveillance operation following a tip and raided the warehouse on the strength of a mission order issued by PASG head, Antonio Villar.

Villar expressed confidence that the dismembered replicating machine they recovered is the same as the one that went missing under “questionable circumstances.”

Arugay said the recovered pieces bear an identical description and specification as the one seized in Barangay San Antonio, San Francisco Del Monte, Quezon City. The P60-million replicating machine was allegedly smuggled and used to manufacture pirated films.

The PASG questioned three men in a van, who said they were hired by one “Gener” to repair a forklift found alongside the replicating machine. The forklift and the van may have been used to move the machine, Arugay said.

Villar said the Valenzuela warehouse is reportedly being leased by Lawrence Printing Services.

Arugay said the recovered machine was turned over to the Bureau of Customs. – Pete Laude