Faeldon’s tirades may land him in city jail ---– Lacson

MANILA, Philippines —  Sen. Panfilo Lacson may file a resolution to have former Bureau of Customs (BOC) commissioner Nicanor Faeldon transferred to the Pasay City Jail if the latter continues his tirades from his detention at the Senate.

Lacson made the warning yesterday after Faeldon on Wednesday asked the senator to just concentrate on defending his son, Panfilo Lacson Jr., from allegations of cement smuggling.

Faeldon has been detained at the Senate since Sept. 12 for refusing to testify before the Blue Ribbon committee on the reported corruption at the BOC.

Faeldon made his latest tirade against Lacson after the senator bared that his successor, BOC Commissioner Isidro Lapeña, confirmed reports that his predecessor received more than P100 million from some businessmen and brokers as “pasalubong” or welcome gift shortly after assuming the top post of the bureau last year.

“Nobody can be more irritating than a morally degenerate and perverted idiot whose only defense mechanism is to bark at anybody who crosses his path,” Lacson said in his Twitter account.

“He deserves the nearest city jail more than the Senate cell where he is being held for contempt,” he said.

In an interview with radio dzBB, Lacson said there were no charges filed against his son, who is engaged in the cement business, since he did not commit any smuggling.

He said cement is zero-rated or has no tariff so there is no smuggling when his son makes imports.

“He (Faeldon) does not know the job or he knows it but he’s trying to force the issue,” the senator said.

Shabu smuggling

Businessman Kenneth Dong attended the start of preliminary investigation into the smuggling case filed against him and eight others at the Department of Justice (DOJ) in connection with the smuggling of 604 kilos of shabu from China. 

The BOC filed criminal charges against Dong, whose real name is Dong Yi Shen, during yesterday morning’s preliminary investigation conducted by Assistant State Prosecutor Charles Guhit. 

 In the 19-page complaint filed by the BOC-BATAS at the DOJ, it said that Hongfei Logistics is engaged in international sea and airfreight forwarding. The company’s registration with the BOC’s Client Profile Registration System expired last July 12, 2014.

The BOC said in its complaint that “despite the expiration of its registration, however, Hongfei continued to operate as an international freight forwarded by engaging consultants who handle the release of goods from the Bureau of Customs.”

Sometime last February, Hongfei hired the services of Li who sought the help of Dong to search for a broker. Dong found Taguba, who is not a Professional Regulation Commission registered broker. 

Dong also translated the Chinese packing list to English before sending it to Taguba. 

On May 11, Hongfei’s warehouse in Anhai received a shipment of five boxes of printer rollers and they were loaded, along with other cargo, inside a container that was brought to the Port of Shihu in China. The M/V Guang Ping shipped the cargo to the Philippines.

At 6 p.m. of May 16, one 40-foot container van arrived in the Manila port. The shipment was consigned to EMT Trading. 

Under Import Entry no. 129547, the container van was described to contain 116 packages of cutting board, 500 packages of footwear, 138 packages of kitchenware and 23 packages of moulds with an estimated value of $5,900. 

EMT Trading and its broker Marcellana reportedly certified and signed the contents to be true and correct.

It was then classified by the BOC’s Risk Management Office (RMO) as eligible to pass through the “Green Lane,” thus it was reportedly spared from undergoing the usual physical and documentary examination and was released at the MICP Customs House through the online releasing system last May 18 after it paid duties and taxes. 

It was released on May 23 at 10:15 p.m.

Records showed that the shipment was transported via the Taguba-owned Golden Strike Logistics, its truck with license plate AAC 3123 delivered the 40-foot shipping container to the Philippine Hongfei Logistic Inc. warehouse at No. 5510 Aster St., De Castro, Subdivision, Paso de Blas, Valenzuela City. It arrived at the warehouse at 1 a.m. of May 24. 

The contents of the container were unloaded by Hongfei employees. 

Chinese warehouseman Chen Ronghuan, an employee of Hongfei, confirmed that upon checking the contents, they saw five wooden crates said to contain insulator machines. 

All the contents of the shipping container were delivered to the respective owners except for the five wooden crates addressed to Fidel Anoche Dee of No. 3050 F. Bautista St., Ugong, Valenzuela City. 

At around 5 p.m. of May 25, Chen received a call from a certain Wan Xi Dong, who claimed to be connected with the Xiamen Customs Police, who reportedly informed him that the five insulator machines contained prohibited drugs.

At about 9:10 p.m. of May 25, BOC Intelligence Officer I Rainier Ragos reportedly received a call from an agent of the Anti-Smuggling Bureau (ASB) of China Customs who informed him about the illegal drugs shipment and that the real suspects could be a certain Ming Jun Zhu and Fidel Anoche Dee. 

 – With Evelyn Macairan