CSC reinstates ex-Cebu Customs chief

CEBU, Philippines — The Civil Service Commission (CSC) has ordered the reinstatement of former Bureau of Customs (BOC) Port of Cebu district collector Elvira Cruz.

“The motion for reconsideration shows that the BOC failed to submit evidence which would materially affect the subject decision and did not raise any valid reason to warrant the setting aside of the questioned decision,” CSC chairperson Alicia dela Rosa-Bala said in a five-page decision dated April 6.

In its motion for reconsideration, the BOC said the reassignment of Cruz was justified and did not violate her right to security of tenure.

In its earlier decision, the CSC ordered the reinstatement of Cruz as district collector as it declared former BOC commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero’s order assigning her to the Cebu port monitoring unit as illegal.

Guerrero reassigned Cruz after she was found liable for gross negligence by the BOC Intelligence and Investigation Service.

The case stemmed from her alleged involvement in the release of illegally withdrawn heavy equipment and motor vehicles on May 27, 2018 from M/V Tiong Woon Ocean 18 that arrived at the Port of Cebu from Brunei on March 22, 2018.

Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, in a decision dated Jan. 21, 2020, dismissed the administrative complaint against Cruz.

Medialdea directed the Presidential Anti-Crime Commission to conduct a thorough investigation to determine who allowed the unlawful withdrawal of the imported goods from the custody of the BOC. – The Freeman