CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga- The intelligence service of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) has been asked to investigate reports of fuel anomalies at the bureau’s port here, even as more evidences of “switching” seized fuel has been uncovered by the port’s chief.
Lawyer Ronnie Silvestre, chief of the BOC at the Clark port, told Punto! that only recently, he found out that some 30 drums of what was supposed to be automotive diesel had vanished and was apparently switched to less expensive industrial diesel.
This was apart from the 156 drums supposedly of diesel forfeited by the BOC here from 2009 to 2012. Only 91 of the drums were found to contain diesel, while the other 65 drums contained only water, Silvestre said in an interview.
Silvestre said that last March, automotive fuel found being sold illegally by the G2G gasoline station in Mabalacat City which was not authorized to sell tax free fuel, was confiscated and stored in 30 drums at the clearing area of the BOC here.
In his report to Customs Commissioner Rufino Biazon, Silvestre noted that later last April, an inspection done by specialists from the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Societe Generale de Surveillance (SGS) indicated that the more expensive automotive diesel in the drums was gone.
Instead, 29 of the drums contained mere industrial diesel and one had only ordinary diesel, he noted, adding that the switching must have happened at the Customs clearing area where the drums were stored.
Silvestre said that the incident was apart from the case of some 94 drums which he discovered when he assumed post at the Clark port last Feb. 7.
“I was inspecting the premises when I assumed post and found the drums. I was told they contained diesel which were seized and stored there from the period covering 2009 up to 2012,” he recalled.
Intending to have the contents auctioned off, Silvestre then invited representatives from the DOE and SGS to inspect the contents and ascertain their quality.
“I really was very embarrassed because about 40 percent of the drums contained nothing but water,” he said.
Silvestre admitted that some employees at the Port of Clark are probably involved in both cases, but declined to comment further, saying that he had already asked his bureau’s central investigation department to conduct a probe.
In his letter to Biazon, Silvestre recommended an “independent investigation be immediately conducted to protect the interest of the government.”
Amid continuing reports of fuel and other forms of smuggling, Biazon has proposed the abolition of the bureau and replacing it with a professional institution.
Biazon’s proposal, which he brought to the attention of Pres. Aquino, drew mixed reactions.
Ralph Recto of the Senate ways and means committee instead blamed continued smuggling on high taxes and duties.
