Stories tagged
‘customs’

Customs sometimes in cahoots with smugglers

by Tess B. Bacala

LUXURY VEHICLES are not uncommon at the Bureau of Customs (BOC), where officials and employees like to drive fancy cars, even if most of them cannot explain how they bought these, given the salary scales at the BOC.

But assistant customs section chief Ildefonso Almero does not even have a car. Just five years away from retirement, he also does not own a house, but rents an apartment where he lives with his family.

Read more… | Posted Thursday, October 28th, 2004

Smuggling is killing shoe, garments, textile industries

by Tess B. Bacala

MARIKINA CITY — As a young boy, Vic Sabiniano never had to worry about spending money even if his family was poor. If his pockets were empty, all he had to do was go to any neighborhood shoe factory in Marikina and offer to help — for a fee, of course.

Read more… | Posted Wednesday, October 27th, 2004

Fictitious firms, fake papers used in smuggling

by Tess B. Bacala

WHEN NEW Customs Commissioner George Jereos appeared before a Senate committee hearing on smuggling last September, he made no mention of technical smuggling, which the agricultural and industry sectors say is fast killing them. Instead, Jereos talked about traditional or pure smuggling, in which imported goods do not pass through the Bureau of Customs and enter the country illegally via private ports.

Read more… | Posted Tuesday, October 26th, 2004

Smuggled goods flood malls and markets

by Tess B. Bacala

BONGABON, NUEVA ECIJA — In 1987, Carlito and Lita Bayudan, both New People’s Army guerrillas, came down from the hills to begin a new life in this quiet farming town northeast of Manila. About to become parents for the first time, they traded their rifles for hoes, venturing into onion farming, the occupation of 80 percent of Bongabon residents. The young couple knew they would have to work hard, but they looked forward to a simple and peaceful life.

Read more… | Posted Monday, October 25th, 2004