SENATORFrancis “Kiko” Pangilinan cited in contempt a Bureau of Customs (BOC) official connected to the smuggling operations at the Port of Subic during the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Food, and Agrarian Reform’s public hearing on Wednesday, December 3.
BOC-Port of Subic Acting Chief of Assessment Juan San Andres was cited in contempt after inconsistencies in his statements regarding the release of three containers with smuggled agricultural products from the Port of Subic.
“On the basis of the motion as well as the explanation of Mr. San Andres, together with clarification from Usec. Carlos Carag, we second the motion: you are cited in contempt by this committee,” the senator and chairman of the agricultural committee said.
This comes after a motion from Senator Erwin Tulfo, who flagged San Andres for lying to the committee after Department of Agriculture (DA) Undersecretary Carlos Carag confirmed the attempt to bring the three containers of shipment consigned to Berches Consumer Goods Trading to a non-existent warehouse in Angat, Bulacan.
San Andres claimed that the operation to bring the containers out of the Port of Subic for a 100% physical examination in the supposed Berches’ warehouse was done in coordination with the DA’s Inspectorate and Enforcement (DAIE) unit.
But Carag belied this claim and said that the DAIE went after several BOC personnel after finding out that the containers were released from the port.
While the containers were eventually returned to the Port of Subic, Pangilinan questioned San Andres’ recollection of events, particularly for the issuance of the mission order after he gave instructions to one of the BOC staff to join the underguarding.
San Andres denied this, while also failing to justify why the containers were released in the first place despite having possible smuggled agricultural products.
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