Customs executive suspended over shabu smuggling

MANILA, Philippines - Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales has ordered the preventive suspension of an operations officer for allegedly being remiss in his duties that resulted in the entry of 700 kilos of high-grade shabu at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone last year.

Morales has filed administrative charges of gross neglect of duty, dishonesty and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service against Romulo Labrusca, operations officer II at the Port of Subic.

Labrusca is the acting chief of the Pier Inspection Division and Bay Service Unit. He has been a boarding officer for the past 20 years.

Anthony Ang, one of the owners of Hualong International Inc., has been tagged in the shabu smuggling. He has reportedly left the country.

Lawyer Willie Sarmiento, chief of the BOC’s Internal Inquiry and Prosecution Division, said that based on their investigation, Labrusca’s signature appeared on the inward foreign manifest that declared that the vessel that was later found to contain shabu, was not carrying goods in commercial quantities subject to duties and taxes.

Ang reportedly claimed that the vessel was carrying sensitive electronic parts, but failed to present pertinent documents.