RANKING government officials are allegedly involved in the smuggling of agricultural products into the country or are acting as protectors of smuggling groups, a “validated list” given to outgoing Senate President Vicente Sotto III showed.
The list is contained in an intelligence report that was submitted to the Senate President last May 17 and which was quoted widely in Committee Report No. 649 submitted by the Committee of the Whole to the Senate floor on June 1. It was signed by 17 senators.
Among those included in the list were Bureau of Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero, BOC deputy commissioner Raniel Ramiro, BOC deputy commissioner for revenue collection and monitoring group Vener Baquiran, BOC director for customs intelligence and investigation service Geofrey Tacio, and Yasser Abbas of the BOC import and assessment division.
Also included in the list are officials from the Department of Agriculture (DA), among them Undersecretary Ariel Cayanan of the DA Central Office, Dir. George Culaste of the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI), Eduardo Gongona of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, and Laarni Roxas, of BPI – Region 3 (Central Luzon).
The intelligence list also contained the following names and information: Toby Tiangco, BFAR products, smuggling protector; David Tan (aka David Bangyan), Cebu, MICP, port of Manila, Batangas; Gerry Teves, meat products, No. 1 smuggler playing in all major ports (i.e. Subic, MICP, POM, Batangas, Cebu); Mayor Jun Diamante, all agri products playing in port of Davao, CDO, Cebu, Subic; Manuel Tan, agri-fishery products playing in Subic, CDO, and Batangas; Jude Logarta, Cebu; Leah Cruz, (aka Luz Cruz and Lilia Matabang Cruz), tagged as “Onion Queen,” DA SPSIC controller/manipulator (i.e. Subic, MICP, CDO); Andy Chua, George Tan, David Bangayan, Paul Teves, Tommy Go, and Wilson Chua.
The Senate committee report, however, did not elaborate on the data included in the list.
The Senate was constituted into a Committee of the Whole based on Senate Resolution No. 922, introduced by Sen. Francis Pangilinan, after Sotto delivered a privilege speech on December 7, 2021, calling the chamber’s attention to the unabated smuggling of agricultural products that has badly affected the livelihood of local farmers.
Sotto has said he has given president-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. a copy of the list of the names of the suspected smugglers and protectors of agricultural products, hoping that the incoming president will get rid of the misfits in the DA, which Marcos will temporarily head.
Sotto said Marcos Jr. was “bothered” by the corruption at the DA.
“I’m expecting the incoming president to scrutinize everything. He knows what’s going on,” Sotto earlier said after learning that Marcos Jr. will temporarily lead the DA.
