Rice smuggling charges vs 25 people dropped

BUTUAN CITY — Lack of evidence.

This was the reason cited by the Office of the Ombudsman and this city’s prosecutor’s office in dismissing separate complaints against a total of 25 people, including police and Coast Guard officers, over an alleged rice smuggling incident here in July last year.

The case started when Caraga policemen intercepted before dawn of July 12 last year the unloading of imported rice from Vietnam from MV Rodeo at the Lumbocan port in Masao district here.

Nearly 2,000 sacks of rice had already been unloaded when the police arrived. The vessel, still with some 15,000 more sacks of rice, was subsequently held, but it later "disappeared" while under the custody of police and Coast Guard personnel.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) stepped in, and found certain police and Coast Guard officers liable for alleged neglect of their sworn duties to protect the government’s interest.

The NBI thus filed administrative cases with the Office of the Ombudsman against Butuan City police chief Felix Gonzales, Senior Superintendent Efren Anggo, regional head of Task Force Racer; Customs collector Diego Odchimar Jr., Inspector Samuel Batoon and other police and Coast Guard personnel.

But in a Feb. 28 resolution, the Ombudsman dismissed the cases for lack of merit.

Also for lack of evidence, the city’s prosecutor’s office also dismissed last Jan. 10 the smuggling charges, which Mayor Leonides Theresa Plaza had filed against a number of private individuals.

Cleared of the charges were Romanito Amante Sr., brother of Agusan del Norte Rep. Edelmiro Amante and owner of Concorde Arrastre Stevedoring; Felix Villacastin, owner of MV Rodeo; Zaldy Villa, of Villa Shipping Co.; Flavio Makinano Jr., Jose Burias, Esmeraldo Limatoc, Jun Fernandez, Romeo Nalla, Pablo Sandig, Ernie Ocso, Dante Ganob and MV Rodeo crewmen Inocencio Salmero, Jannevar Yongod and Fortunato Elemento Jr., among others.