Thursday, August 21, 2008 Seares: Smugglers, aliases By Pachico A. Seares News Sense
THERE'S no legitimate reason an importer will use an alias to bring in foreign goods into the country.
He isn't like a screen actor or TV star who must use a name more marketable than that given him at baptism.
He's no recluse who assumes another name to prevent intrusion into his privacy.
What does a respectable importer need an alias for? He's not respectable, that's what. He smuggles goods and the fake name helps him from being caught.
It must infuriate people when customs officials and anti-smuggling chiefs tell congressional committees they know the identities of top smugglers and yet won't say even behind closed doors session who the culprits are.
I know. They need evidence. But how can that elude them for long? Top smugglers do it so repetitively it's improbable they don't ever slip and fall.
Good sleuthing
It took four to five hearings in Manila for legislators to come up with a basic idea: ban importers from using false names in import papers.
There's already a law that makes it criminal for anyone to use a fictitious name "to conceal a crime, avoid a judgment, or cause damage."
A smuggler hurts the economy and deprives government of precious revenue, a sin more grievous than that of Kamagayan pick-up women who use aliases to save themselves and kin back home from shame.
Proposed amendments to the law may help catch the smugglers. But good sleuthing can help more.
The problem is that smuggling is so lucrative that smugglers risk losing four of five shipments and law enforcers risk being called sloppy or corrupt.
