BoC, DA officials named as protectors of agri smugglers

By Jom Garner

High-ranking officials from the Bureau of Customs (BoC) and Dept. of Agriculture (DA) are allegedly involved in the wide-scale smuggling of agricultural products in the country, outgoing Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III said.
    Among those included in the “validated list” were Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero, Customs deputy commissioner Raniel Ramiro, Customs deputy commissioner for revenue collection and monitoring group Vener Baquiran, Customs director for customs intelligence and investigation service Geofrey Tacio, and Yasser Abbas of the Customs import and assessment division.
    Sotto said the list of names of alleged protectors of smugglers was based on the intelligence report submitted by the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) submitted during a public hearing by the Senate Committee of the Whole.
    The committee report was signed by 17 senators.
    The list was already submitted to President-elect Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr, according to Sotto.
    Last March, the Senate Committee of the Whole conducted a hearing on the rampant smuggling of agricultural products in the country which resulted to huge losses for farmers like those in Cordillera.