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Tuesday, September 16, 2003
Transfer us: CIIS heads on loss of vans
CEBU -- Two customs officials asked to be relieved as theft complaints were filed against five men for the disappearance of two container vans of smuggled rice.
Also, all five customs policemen assigned to guard the Cebu International Port (CIP) showed up at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) 7 Monday and denied their involvement in the case.
The chiefs of the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service (CIIS) in Cebu and Visayas asked their superior in Manila to relieve them of their posts, "out of delicadeza."
CIIS Director Godofredo Olores announced the decision of the two officials.
Both CIIS-Cebu Chief Felix Espino and CIIS-Visayas Chief Frank Guevarra also denied they had a hand in the disappearance of the two vans last Sept. 7.
The NBI 7, meanwhile, filed a theft complaint against Rustico Fernandez, Winley dela Fuente, Arnel Ondoy, Arnold Glodove and Fernando Feliciano.
During the filing, Alberto Go, dela Fuente's lawyer, kept on saying that the NBI illegally arrested and detained his client, as well as the four others.
He threatened to file a habeas corpus petition against the NBI. He said dela Fuente voluntarily went to the NBI 7 headquarters to clear his name but, despite the absence of any warrant, NBI agents handcuffed him instead.
"You were not arrested and detained (without warrant) after the shooting incident," he chided NBI 7 special agent Pura. The lawyer was referring to the Dec. 13, 2002 incident where Pura and other NBI men opened fire on a private van in Mandaue City, thinking it was the vehicle owned by a suspected drug lord.
Pura led the filing of the complaint yesterday before the Office of the Cebu City Prosecutor.
Assistant City Prosecutor Oscar Capacio, in charge of the office while City Prosecutor Jose Pedrosa is on leave, ordered that the case be filed in court.
The five men, though, were released Monday.
Dela Fuente allegedly contacted Fernandez, a messenger of CIIS, for the removal of the two 20-footer vans. Fernandez, in turn, talked to Glodove, Ondoy and Feliciano, employees of the Oriental Port and Allied Services Corp., the exclusive cargo handler in CIP.
Special Agent (SA) 2 Antonio B. Quioco Sr., the customs police detail commander, was absent when the two vans were illegally taken out of the CIP in the early evening of Sept. 7.
In his affidavit submitted to the NBI, Quioco said he failed to report that day because he was suffering from "intestinal disorder and fever" and had to take rest for three days.
Quioco said he learned of the missing vans when he reported back to work on Sept. 10.
Capt. Isidro Estrera, customs Enforcement Security Service chief, assigned Quioco as the detail commander of the second shift duty guards at the CIP from Sept. 6 to 7.
In a joint affidavit, SAI Andie S. Catre and SAI Noe Nim Sr. also both denied that they were involved in the incident.
Catre said he only noted that two of the 10 container vans were missing when he inspected the CIP yard around 9 p.m. of Sept. 7.
The NBI 7 said Catre was supposed to know the activity in the port because he was assigned as the CIP's exit gate guard that night.
As for Espino and Guevarra of the CIIS, this is the second time they are relieved of their positions.
Last Nov. 14, 2002, Espino, Guevarra and the entire CIIS command in Cebu were relieved after District Collector Billy Bibit accused them of harassing legitimate importers through alert orders or hold orders of shipments which were later found to be legally declared.
They were later reinstated on condition that they will voluntarily step down if a similar incident will happen. EOB/KNR/GC/Sun.Star Cebu |
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Sin retires; Rosales, 71, is his successor