MANILA: The operation of the “high-level syndicate” in the Bureau of Customs smuggling P20-billion worth of meat, poultry and rice products a year is continuing under the Aquino administration, resulting in P100 billion worth of lost revenue in the past five years.
He said Customs Deputy Commissioner Jessie Dellosa, head of the bureau’s intelligence group, had already reported to President Benigno Aquino III the rampant corruption at Customs.
He said Dellosa had informed Aquino that the syndicate involved “high-ranking officials” in the bureau who were colluding with smugglers.
“The syndicate involves the highest officials in the [Bureau of Customs],” Briones said.
“That’s why it’s called the Tara system. No inspections—and very high officials are involved. No one was admitting that the syndicate existed until Deputy Commissioner Dellosa made an admission that the tara system was still in place.”
Briones said the syndicate was earning P140,000 per container van under the tara system in which no van was being inspected.
He said some 20 container vans of meat products alone were being smuggled into the country every day, or a total of 7,300 vans a year with the bribe money reaching up to P1.02 billion a year for the syndicate.
“Every container van that is being smuggled into the country has undeclared or undervalued products worth P1 million,” Briones said.
“So it is easy for the smugglers to shell out the P140,000 in bribes to Customs officials to ensure the vans will not be opened and subjected to inspection.”
Briones said some P8 billion in revenues were being lost each year due to smuggled meat products alone.
That was on top of the technical smuggling of rice amounting to P12 billion a year, bringing the total amount of smuggled meat and rice products to P20 billion a year, he said.
Briones said the technical smugglers were not paying the right tariff of 40 percent especially if outside of the minimum access volume.
By declaring the products as farm tools and farm equipment, the smuggled rice was only being levied five percent instead of the right tariff of 40 percent.
Briones said the smugglers had become so bold that they were no longer shipping products in container vans but in the whole ship.
