Suspected jewelry smuggler's lawyer seeks PASG abolition

MANILA, Philippines - A lawyer representing a suspected jewelry smuggler filed a motion for declaratory relief before a Manila court yesterday asking for the abolition of the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group (PASG), which he claimed was created in 2007 by a “grossly unconstitutional, illegal, and unlawful” executive order by President Arroyo.

Lawyer Bonifacio Alentajan – who represents British national Alpha Kwok, charged with allegedly smuggling P250 million worth of jewelry and loose precious stones into the country – said Malacañang created a unit that merely duplicates the functions of the Bureau of Customs (BOC).

Alentajan is asking the Manila court to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO), which will prohibit Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita and PASG chief Antonio Villar Jr. from implementing Mrs. Arroyo’s Executive Order 624. Ultimately, his petition seeks the issuance of a preliminary and a permanent injunction order to declare PASG’s creation as invalid and unconstitutional.

Alentajan said EO 624 was signed and issued to create an anti-smuggling group that will “apprehend, seize, investigate, and prosecute acts involving smuggling, unlawful importation and other similar violations” but has since “become a source of excessive abuses and official lawlessness.”

Alentajan said in his client’s case, PASG operatives allegedly trespassed and searched Kwok’s condominium unit, then announced that they seized P500 million worth of diamonds and precious stones in an Aug. 21 raid.

He said he filed illegal arrest, arbitrary detention, graft, falsification of public documents, and perjury charges against Villar and other PASG officials and operatives before the Office of the Ombudsman.

Alentajan said EO 624 was made “effective immediately” with no prior publication in a newspaper of general circulation or an official gazette, and that it appropriated P50 million from the President’s contingency fund “without any legislative mandate.”

He also said that the PASG’s actions in enforcing the Tariff and Customs Code without the authority of the BOC chief are null and void.

Alentajan said another provision in EO 624 that authorizes PASG to evaluate evidence and determine whether there is probable cause violates the Constitution, since this power is vested with the judiciary.

He said the abolition and deactivation of PASG has an authoritative precedent, since then President Joseph Estrada issued EO 191 in 2000 to deactivate the “once notorious Economic Intelligence and Investigation Bureau” because its designated functions “are also being performed by other existing agencies of the government.”

‘Immature lawyer’

The PASG, on the other hand, accused Alentajan of “malpractice” for asking the Office of the Ombudsman to admit evidence against the PASG when no charges have been filed yet against the agency.

PASG chief of staff Jeffrey Patawaran said Alentajan filed a motion to admit evidence when the graft charges against the agency’s officials have not yet been filed.

Patawaran said Alentajan’s motion “was unsubstantiated, futile and no basis at all for PASG is yet to receive Kwok’s case notification from Ombudsman.”

“We have read press statements on graft charges filed by Kwok, but we are still awaiting notification from the Ombudsman. So, Alentajan’s pleading was a premature pleading which was filed with haste by an immature lawyer,” Patawaran said in a statement.

Alentajan’s “legal immaturity,” was earlier proven when his petition for habeas corpus filed in favor of Kwok was dismissed by Pasig City Regional Trial Court Judge Toribio Ilao for forum shopping, Patawaran said. – Michael Punongbayan, Sandy Araneta, Paolo Romero