Thursday, April 10, 2008 Judge tells NBI: File case v. King
THE judge who issued the warrant that authorized the search of Regan King’s Mandaue City warehouse has advised the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to charge the businessman if it feels it has a case against him.
Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Fortunato de Gracia said the agency does not have to wait for him to resolve the motion to quash filed by King, through Cebu City Councilor Gerry Carillo.
De Gracia said even if the warrant is quashed, only the physical presence of the rice would be refused entry as evidence.
“They (NBI) still has the testimony of the Bureau of Customs officials who can attest that the rice was brought to the warehouse,” he said. He also said the NBI has photos.
Probable cause
De Gracia, however, refused to comment if the evidence mentioned, minus the rice, are enough to establish probable cause. This, he said, is up to the prosecutor’s office to establish during preliminary investigation.
NBI regional director Medardo de Lemos said the decision on whether to proceed with the filing of the charges is up to the NBI national leadership in Manila.
De Gracia said in court that NBI director Nestor Mantaring might move against filing a complaint as he has been receiving calls from “an angry gentleman.”
De Lemos, a lawyer, said he doesn’t have “any knowledge” over the issue.
De Gracia, during yesterday’s hearing on King’s motion , blamed the records system of the National Food Authority (NFA) for the mess.
He said the NFA’s system pays “scant attention” to the location of the warehouses the NFA is supposed to be licensing, registering and monitoring. Instead, he said, the listing is based on names.
“The names can change,” he said, referring to how a warehouse owned by somebody may be leased to somebody else and licensed in his or her name.
As this developed, Deputy Ombudsman for the Visayas Pelagio Apostol yesterday said the anti-graft office is currently looking into allegations that some NFA-accredited dealers are engaged in unfair practices.
While it limits the sale of retail NFA rice to the urban poor at one kilo each, his sources report seeing people on board cars leave the outlets with several sacks of rice.
He said they are treating the matter as a fact-finding investigation and has drawn up an order directing the NFA to closely monitor its accredited retailers.
He also urged people who have information to offer to visit the anti-graft office located inside the Department of Agriculture compound along M. Velez St.
At the Bureau of Customs, officials said they will continue to conduct an inventory on the rice imported by the Philippine International Trading Corp. (PITC) for the farmers’ cooperatives with Cebu businessmen as investor-partners.
District Collector Ricardo Belmonte said that after the inventory, they will seek clearance from the Office of the Commissioner. They will then order the release of the rice shipment claimed by Jolli International Traders Inc., represented by King.
The inventory was stalled after the NBI and NFA padlocked the warehouse where the rice was stocked and secured by the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service (CIIS).
Belmonte said rice importers already paid P27 million as customs duty, increasing their revenue collection for March.
Mario Leygo, PITC managing director for import group, earlier said the rice was legally imported and has an allocation from the NFA since 2004. (KNR/ With EOB)
