Probe sought on ‘missing’ BOC intel funds under Lina

MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Audit (COA) has been asked to investigate the alleged misuse of P17 million in intelligence funds of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) under the watch of former commissioner Alberto Lina.

A former Customs official revealed yesterday the amount was allocated to intelligence operations of the bureau, but only P750,000 went to the Customs-Intelligence Group (IG), upon Lina’s discretion.

“Where did he bring the funds?” asked the official, who requested anonymity over security concerns.

The official said Lina should account for the confidential and intelligence funds because his failure to do so might indicate misuse of government funds.

In particular, the source called on the COA to look into the records on the disbursement of the funds for possible violations of laws and regulations.

The official raised questions on how the office of Lina secured clearance from COA  for the programs using intelligence funds. 

Despite the meager budget given to the intelligence group, the source noted the IG achieved more accomplishments than the office of Lina and their predecessors using the intelligence funds. 

“These accomplishments (of IG) are good for 40 years,” the official stressed.

During his term as Customs chief, Lina was faced with a conflict of interest issue for releasing a shipment with false import permits that were handled by 2100 Customs Brokerage or 2100 CB – one of his companies.

Lina also found himself in hot water when he transferred then BOC’s Investigation Division chief, Leonardo Peralta, who was investigating the alleged Customs taxes and duties-related irregularities involving U-Freight, one of his firms, to the so-called “freezer” in the finance department.

For the past five months before Lina stepped down as Customs commissioner, the BOC failed to meet its revenue collection target, translating into a shortfall of P43.25 billion.

Records showed that in May alone, BOC recorded a deficit of P8.85 billion or about P295 million in losses per day.

The bureau collected P154.86 billion in revenues in the first five months of 2016, way below its target of P198.11 billion.

The poor revenue collection performance of the BOC is being blamed on the prevalence of corruption in its ranks and personnel, which even President Duterte described as one of the most corrupt and underperforming agencies in government.

The Swine Development Council and the Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura earlier complained the smuggling of agricultural products alone went unabated under Lina’s watch.