Onion-skinned

FOR the past two weeks, the social media has been abuzz with netizens zeroing in on the Bureau of Customs (BoC) over its handling of some airline flight crew who were caught trying to sneak in some 40 kilograms of fruit and vegetables, including 15 kg of onions last January 10.

According to the netizens, who were also joined by some lawmakers, the BoC is clearly applying a double standard in punishing the airline personnel while letting bigtime smugglers go free.

Whoa! Not too fast. When BoC spokesman Arnaldo de la Torre announced that the agency, together with the Bureau of Quarantine (BoQ), was considering filing charges against the 10 Philippine Airlines crew members, it was not about smuggling but rather their unruly behavior when they tried to destroy the onions, which the crew admitted doing so, so that these would not be used against them.

According to airport insiders, there is even a video footage of the scene showing the crew stomping on the onions.

“The legal action that the BoC and Bureau of Quarantine will take is with regard to the behavior of the PAL crew members,” de la Torre said as he stressed that “the crew committed conduct unbecoming of employees, unethical behavior, as well as direct insult and disrespect to persons in authority.”

The BoC and BoQ were right when they stopped the PAL crew from bringing in the onions and the fruits. Not because they committed smuggling. Smuggling is the illegal trade in goods to avoid paying customs duties and taxes. While I’m not sure of the minimum quantity of a particular product someone can bring in from another country which can be exempted from duties and taxes, I think the amount of onions and fruits would not qualify for customs duties as obviously it wasn’t brought in for commercial purposes given the quantity the crew brought in.

If it is allowed. Unfortunately for them, it is not. And that is precisely the reason why they were prevented from bringing them past the customs’ lane.

Presidential Decree 1433, or the “Plant Quarantine Decree of 1978,” prohibits bringing agricultural products into the country without sanitary and phytosanitary clearance certificates and a permit from the Bureau of Plant Industry, regardless of the quantity.

The reason behind this is to prevent bringing in possible crop diseases from the country of origin and infecting our local crops.

In fact, the country is still implementing a total or absolute ban on the entry of agricultural products, coming in from Dubai and Riyadh.

And even in our own country, we are implementing a ban on trade of certain fruits outside the area of some provinces. A case in point are the mangoes from Palawan, no matter how luscious they are.

The trade of the Palawan mangoes outside the province was first imposed in 1989, which prevented any movement of mangoes outside the Palawan region. The reason for this is that mangoes from that province are suspected to be infected with a pesky insect called the mango pulp weevil which penetrates the fruit and lays its eggs underneath the skin, making it impossible to tell whether a mango is damaged until it is cut open.

Imagine how we could continue to enjoy the mangoes from Guimaras and from the centuries-old trees of Zambales if we had allowed the trade of Palawan mangoes outside its area. The whole mango industry in the country would have suffered then.

The PAL crew should have known better. And the netizens who were quick to pounce on the BoC, well, they should first make sure the pool is filled with water before jumping in. Study the facts first before making any conclusion. Or condemnation. Don’t get piqued easily.

*** Sleeping on the job? Again? Hindi ka nag-iisa, Benny Antiporda.

During the last quarter of last year, the Office of the Ombudsman, acting on a complaint by some employees of the National Irrigation Administration, suspended then Acting NIA Administrator Benny Antiporda.

This despite the fact the complainant were NIA employees whom Antiporda had charged with graft much earlier than filing of the complaints against him. And while the Ombudsman was quick to act on the complaint against Antiporda, it failed to lift a finger on his own complaint against the NIA employees.

Apparently, this is not the only time or even the first time issues of selective prioritizing or even sleeping on the job have been raised against the Ombudsman.

Last week, a source passed to us a folder of documents containing a copy of a complaint filed by former Angadanan, Isabela mayor Manuel Siquian against former Isabela governor, now vice governor, Faustino Dy 3rd and other provincial officials for three counts of plunder, with conspiracy, violation of Section 3 of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, malversation of public funds and falsification of public documents. The complaint was filed on July 27, 2020, more than two years ago.

And yet the Office of the Ombudsman still has to act on the complaint that Siquian had to reach out to Malacañang to plead for its intercession in getting the case attended to.

Responding to Siquian’s request, the Office of the President, through deputy executive secretary for legal affairs Anna Liza Logan, in a letter to Chief Ombudsman Samuel Martirez dated Nov. 24, 2022, requested the latter to provide the former mayor an update on the case he had filed against Dy, et al.

Logan however stressed that while they are requesting Siquian to be apprised of the status of his complaint, by no means is she endorsing or asking any favors to influence the evaluation of the case on anyone’s behalf.

To date, no action has been undertaken by the Ombudsman, according to the source.

Siquian’s complaint stems from the P2.9 billion loan acquired by the Isabela provincial government under then Governor Dy, consisting of P1.5 billion for the construction of an 81-kilometer all-weather road and another P1.4 billion for hospital improvements and medicines, which the former mayor alleges to be grossly overpriced.

Aside from being overpriced, Siquian claims the road construction is a violation of the AntiGraft Law as it is intended to benefit the Dys directly as the road leads to the Honeymoon Island owned by the Dy family. According to Siquian, the acquisition of the island is itself illegal as it is in violation of the Letters of Instruction, presidential proclamations and other pertinent laws.

I won’t discuss the merits of the complaint as I have time and again declared I am no legal expert. But all I’m asking is what are the criteria of the Ombudsman in prioritizing a case? What is taking him so long to act on this one? Or the case filed by Antiporda against the NIA employees for that matter.

Just asking.