'In Between Columns'

PASG Report

BAYAN Muna's Armand Perez gave Cebu reporters  copies of the PASG accomplishment report this morning. I got to read the report when I met Armand later at noon and realized that the report listed names of Customs officials who are least likely involved in smuggling. Moreover, they placed the wrong designations.

Thus, Radi Abarintos, the cash division chief, was listed as being the deputy collector for assessment.

I pity Radi because he only receives the payment from importers based on the assessment of the assessment division.

MingaW NA sa BOC

The car smuggling syndicate is a resilient organism that survived the publicity onslaught waged by big car delaers and the protracted congressional inquiry. But one thing that totally destabilizes the syndicate is disagreement over money. Thus, when the CIIS learned that what they received as tara was small compared to what the PASG had been getting, they decided to just have all "trabaho" stopped. Why did the CIIS learned ab out it? The national leadership of PASG reportedly had two businessmen acting as collection agents in Cebu. The two turned out to be braggarts who teased CIIS officials how much they were collecting. So mingaw ang BOC karon.

Congressional Inquiry and the Christmas Party

The congressional inquiry on alleged smuggling of luxury cars in Cebu hanged like a Sword of Damocles over Customs Cebu people as they celebrated their Christmas party last December 19, 2007.

Heavy rains drenched the Customs building grounds right when the program began to  heat up that evening adding to the cold chill that District Collector Boysie Belmonte described as "being frugal."

In past years, the Customs Christmas party is a time when importers and brokers personally flock to the customs building with their personeros brings loads of Christmas gifts.

Curiously, no broker nor importer showed up that night.

In my view, the volume of imports has not really met expectations -- meaning much lesser collections for the government and "tara" for everybody.

Come to think of it, most imports in Cebu are vehicle replacement parts used for assembling multicabs and small trucks.

Multicabs are the small vehicles bought by many middle income Cebuanos and used by most Small-Medium Enterprises (SME) in Cebu.

However, the lobby of the Cebu Auto Dealers Assn. (CADA) and the congressional inquiry have led to the non-approval of certificate of payments of newly-assembled multicabs here in Cebu.

"Di na mahalin ang mga multicab in favor of the giants like Toyota and KIA," said one importer.

The controvery is far from over. With the second hearing sked still not set, we expect each side to the controversy relaxing a bit for the holidays.

Way trabaho

Mingaw ang customs karon kay way trabaho. No, it's not a holiday and people have gone to work. But still, it is "mingaw kay way trabaho."

Why is this so?

In customs lingo, "trabaho" means a shipment of mis-declared goods. Being mis-declared, one needs to "timbre" with the collectors in-charge and when the goods arrive, pay the "tara."

The accumulated "tara" is subdivided among customs folk and it trickles down to the haoshaois and the kibitzers.

This trickle down system with people having something to give and receive makes customs "alegre."

Unfortunately for customs folk nowadays, "mingaw ang adwana." There's no "trabaho."

Car smuggling

Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group (PASG) Cebu chief Rico PAlcuto went to the office of District Collector Boysie Belmonte with Ombudsman Virginia Santiago to ask for copies of the manifests and related documents.

They also set office at the Cebu International Port (CIP). And Ely Baquero said they have a  night vision telescope in place.

Dako nga tara ang tirada or they have funding from the car dealers?

I still have to hear from the Customs side.

Rice Smuggling

Smugglers of cheap rice from Vietnam will soon face another problem next month. Aside from the intramural between the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group (PASG) and Customs Commissioner Boy Morales in Manila, they will have to deal with a ban for the exportation of rice in Vietnam.

This I gathered from a very reliable source.

I, however, trust smugglers to find a way of getting around this. But they will have to tiptoe around the eyes of Vietnamese authorities aside from Filipinos bureacrats.

As of the moment, players in the Philippine exportation scene have to deal with the PASG and Boy Morales problem.

Its a fact in the Philippines that a huge percentage of the imports are mis-declared. The mis-declared goods are either surplus or luxury vehicles, cheap rice, used clothings, and a host of other products.

If the government stops this, they will either stop importing or bring these cargo through "swing operations" which means direct smuggling. In effect, government revenues from customs drops.

This precisely happened in recent months when customs revenues dropped.

GMA and PASG

A highly placed contact told me that Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group (PASG) chief Antonio Villar has the full trust of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. This despite the silent protests staged by importers and brokers as well as the damage to the economy all these will do.

As a result, local importers and brokers are at a loss at what to do. The PASG is asking them a very high 'tara' for every container.

They are also asking themselves: what is the president's agenda? Is she angry her favored SEnate bets lost last May?

NOnetheless, the hope now is the possibility of a compromise with PASG. Ihatag na lang kuno sa PASG ang ilang gusto kon mosugot nga pagamyan ang tara. The alternative is: no money for PASG pockets, no business for the businessmen, bad for the Philippine economy, bad for GMA.

No more smuggling?

Everybody in Customs are talking about an order upstairs (from Commissioner Boy MOrales) that smuggling should be stopped but only for three months.

But smuggling cannot be totally stopped. The players will only lie low and wait until the new anti-smuggling task force starts accepting bribes.

Moreover, more money will be concentrated to the people upstairs. Gutom na sad maayo. Mahugtanay og baso sa gagmay in Cebu apan busdik ang naa sa kaulohan.

False alarm or leak?

The Customs bureau is awash with talk re the leak from Commissioner Boy Morales' office. Somebody faxed a copy of the BOc chief's resignaion letter to media. However, Morales immediately denied having issued any resignation letter that same day. Who faxed the letter? Was it fake? Or was it a response to President Gloria Macapagal's call for courtesy resignations by Cabinet members but prematurely released by an overeager staff member?

That CDN Customs Scoop

I found it funny that both the camps of Boysie Belmonte and Des Mangaoang believed that the other side was behind the CDN headline on the Cebu Customs revamp. An independent observer said there might be a third interested party. Collector Silvestre? I doubt it. he had already thrown in the towel for lack of a strong backer. My take on this issue? I think the CDN scoop came from Boysie's camp but it backfired.

Let's see after the New Year. I don't expect anything significant to happen at the Customs front within the next three days except Boysie's failure to hit his target again.

revamp again

Talks of a revamp at the Cebu customs house is up again. This time, people are talking of the issuance of a customs personnel order (cpo) tranferring Boysie Belmonte to Clark and bringing back Des Mangaoang to Cebu. Ten other district collectors are also affected by this sweeping revamp again.

When will this be implemented? According to the grapevine, after the Christmas parties this week.

This is unfair to the newcomers because they will inherit the bad collector records of their predecessors.

Swing operations and other uplates ...

The swing operators in Cebu Customs are at it again. They succeeded spiriting out a container van with seized smuggled vehicles last Thursday. Fortunately, Captain Boy Estrera with the able help of his active Customs police men (my brother Rico included of course) speedily recovered the cargo. Now, one swing artist named Felix Gutang is spilling the beans to the customs police. The buyer, who already shelled out P800,000 for the vehicles, is said to be threatening to name names if only to recover the money.

Collector Boysie Belmonte is expected to focus media attention to this achievement if only to draw away public attention from his dismal collection performance. But then, with the current importation volumes in Cebu, hitting the target is practically impossible.

The anti-Mangaoang chorus composed of former Collector Boy Odilao, the Osmeña couple, and the Bingbong-Rey duo can't anymore blame Mangaoang for whatever anti-Boysie publicity that might erupt. Their convenient scapegoat has left for the United States for a short course in Harvard.

Unfornately for Belmonte, the continued low collection performance will attract aspirants for his posts. Expect another Caringal or a Parohinog to emerge.

white paper

The web has become a venue for information warfare waged by people eyeing the post of district collector of the bureau of customs. who is behind the latest white paper circulated via online? this has intrigued me for over a week now.

the paper lists aspirants for the post minus the names of the original aspirant grace caringal and the one in power lourdes mangaoang.

is this another ploy of caringal pr man cerwin eviota after his blue angel series? some people close to mangaoang thinks so. they said the paper was so designed that people outside customs would suspect lourdes as the one behind the paper.

however, customs insiders know about the brewing war at the subic port between caringal and collector salvacion. customs commissioner boy morales is reportedly angry at caringal for refusing to give way to salvacion. caringal is now bitter at her rivals and her boss.

hinuon imu ra man sab ning tinuyoan gud commissioner morales. you should know better than going after officials close to mayor tomas osmeña. before you do it again, better reflect on what happened to camp crame when they attempted to relieve cebu city police chief melvin gayotin. mumo gyud dayon no.

i know many in cebu media don't like mangaoang in the same way that many are taking pothots at gayotin's performance. but both have something going for them and that's tom's support. it seems, what tom wants, gloria grants.

demolition job on mangaoang

the cebu customs grapevine point to customs police chief gualberto and floating collector grace karingal as the principals in the ongoing demolition job on district collector lourdes mangaoang.

Asean confab and media

The presence of the Osmeña couple (rico and joyce) at the lobby of the Plantation Bay Resort on November 12, 2005 provided some kind of tension as the customs police were quite anxious not to allow them inside an ongoing press conference at the conference press center.

aside from ely baquero of sun.star cebu, no customs media attended the press conference with finance chief margarito teves. the goup led by fred languido of the freeman attended the press con of national security adviser norberto gonzales at the eddie's log cabin at the other side of  metro cebu.

nonetheless, the group that attended the press con were mostly from the business beat brought there by the cebu chamber of commerce and industry (ccci). The conference organizers treated them to a sumptous meal at kilimanjaro restaurant. later, grace, the sweet plantation bay pr boss, brought them to the spa for some massage. 

Asean confab

Organizers of the Asean customs directors meeting at the Plantation Bay this Nov. 10-12, 2005 heeded the security advise of the police re publicity.

They cancelled a press conference because the reporters might write about the schedule and venue of the various events and cause-oriented groups might take note and plan their rallies accordingly.

Hehehe, my sources said there are no such plans. Apparently, the local cause-oriented groups have not realized the significance of this conference.

mangaoang v. cerge

    have you heard that customs district collector has earned a new enemy in secretary cerge remonde? this happened during the last presidential visit to cebu when the two met.
    the fiesty collector had heard that cerge had made some kind of a report about her and she confronted him.
    cerge felt insulted by the move. he could not believe a non-cebuano who is ranked lower than him could do that to him in cebu.
    the two are my friends and i don't want them fighting ...

catalan

CIDG's Colonel Catalan blew his top when the court server arrived with the latest court ruling on the Ras Jao issue. The judge is longer going along with Catalan's extortion ploy that victimized importers.

ebing and catalan

don't you know that former fiscal ebing kintanar had a near blooddy encounter with cidg's catalan?

Koko

I was surprised to learn yeaterday that the conflict between Customs Cebu intelligence chief Koko HOlganza and broker/shipper Carmel Salvador has worsened. Ganging up against Koko are District Collector Lourdes Mangaoang herself and the brokers association.

It seems there are more forces against Koko at the Cebu Customs office than those irked by the antics of the present CIDG chief.

Fire

The customs grapevine has several conflicting stories re the recent bodega fire at the Cebu International Port. However, the alleged involvement of men of former district collector Billy Bibit is plausible. DUring his time, a lot of swing operations at the CIP occured. The absence of these anomalous cargo would now be explained as due to the fire.

CIDG extortion

The CIDG attempt to apprehend two vans cleared by Customs and extort money incensed Cebu District Collector Lourdes Mangaoang. The CEbu collector has a point. Under the law, the CIDG has no business messing with shipments cleared by customs.

I gathered that the CIDG team initially wanted P50,000 but eventually settled for P15,000.

Curiously, it is not just the CIDG that is interested. The Mandaue City police apprehended one of the vans after it was released by the CIDG. They also want a piece of the customs pie.

BIbit and Lina

I found it ironic that the man who yanked out former district collector Billy Bibit from his Cebu customs post, former commissioner Bert Lina, also rebelled against President Arroyo.

NOw, both Bibit and Lina are in the same anti-GMA boat.

Customs media

Unity among members of the media who had been covering the customs beat in Cebu City had been elusive since the time of former District Collector Billy Bibit. I think one of the reasons is the entry of more writers in the weekly papers covering purely customs matters.

Local beat reporters also became columnists and formed various cliques. Gone were the days of the original seven members of the Cebu Customs Tri Media Association.

Still, I'm trying to sell the idea of unity among the writers if they want to gain credibility in the eyes of their peers in the Cebu media.

Media

Somehow, unity has eluded the media community covering customs beat. Since FRiday evening, Sunstar reporter Ely Baquero had been texting close frends that he is resigning because of alleged schemes plotted against him. There had been calls for an election.

I think the cause of the disunity were the conditions during the time of Billy Bibit.

If the various factions would come to their senses however, they would realize that the best arrangement would still be unity.

mangaoang

While customs media generally imposed a honeymoon period to give the new customs cebu leadership some time to set things in motion, a reporter broke ranks after having been treated the wrong way by a trusted man of District Collector Lourdes Mangaoang. After a buzz item in today's sunstar, I expect other articles to come out.

I personally think Collector Mangaoang still has to feel her way in dealing with the Cebu media. I hope she does not have the cavalier attitude towards legitimate media like former collector Billy Bibit.

But one grapevine talk worries me. There is this talk that Mangaoang even fought Tulfo in the past and does not care if the guy hits him or not. How much more others.

Still I think smooth relations with the legit media is the best way.

Bibit's replacement

Customs Commissioner Bert Lina has appointed Collector Roger Lim as acting district collector in lieu of former district collector Billy Bibit. But District COllector Lim had barely warmed his seat when news came that Commissioner Lina had named another customs official to replace him.

Apparently, Commissioner Lina and his imperial advisers in Manila think COllector Lim is a pushover.  Little did they know that Lim has the suport of Cebuanos.

One influential Cebuano, Danao Mayor NIto Durano, has personally asked President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo last Friday. President Arroyo was the principal sponsor in the wedding of Nito's daughter.

According to Nito's camp, President Arroyo said yes to the request to retain Lim as district collector. Would President Arroyo fufill her promise? Would Commissioner Lina disobey President Arroyo? Let's see.