BOC execs, 4 others cleared of pilfering 25,000 kilos of 'hot' pork

MANILA, Philippines - The Office of the Ombudsman has dismissed a case against Bureau of Customs officials and four others over the pilferage of more than 25,000 kilos of smuggled pork from a government warehouse two years ago.

Cleared of graft charges, negligence and malversation of public property were James Enriquez, chief of staff at the Office of the Customs Commissioner; Alexander Arcilla, head of the defunct Task Force Anti Smuggling; Facundo Bitanga, chief of the auction and cargo disposal division; warehouse man Dionisio Menil; and Customs examiners Nanie Koh and Roger Manlangit.

The Ombudsman also acquitted Romeo Fernando and Diomedes Cabaluna, general manager and warehouse supervisor, respectively, of Sigma Seven Storage Warehouse; and Bonifacio Cruz and Pedrito Magsino, proprietor and general manager of Mc Bros Trading and Garbage Collection Services.

In a 21-page decision, Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez said there was “no evidence ever presented to establish any probable cause showing that respondents appropriated, took or misappropriated, or through abandonment or negligence permitted other persons to take such public funds or property.”

The decision also stated that based on facts gathered, “it was clear that after the goods were seized, the same were initially inspected by the apprehending team at Camp Crame in Quezon City in the presence of different concerned agencies.”

The Ombudsman added that there was no 100 percent examination made because a memorandum from the Department of Agriculture exempted shipments from China because of the possible presence of viruses that cause avian flu and foot and mouth disease.

The case stemmed from a complaint filed by National Bureau of Investigation agents who investigated the case upon the request of former Customs deputy commissioner Celso Templo, head of the bureau‘s Intelligence and Enforcement Group.

The NBI filed the charges because the missing pork was seized and forfeited in favor of the government, thus the “stolen meat was government property,” while those accused with negligence showed their “failure to cause complete examination and inventory of the seized shipment,” which led to its disappearance.

Investigators found 25,714 kilos had been pilfered from the shipment of pork and mackerel that originally weighed 100,000 kilos when it was stored in the Sigma Seven warehouse at the Harbor Center in Manila. The shipment only weighed 74,286 kilos when it was condemned to be destroyed in Pampanga.

But the vans containing the questionable meat failed to reach the dump owned by Mc Bros Trading and Garbage in Sta. Rita, Pampanga, which was then flooded.