Former Land Transportation Office chief Virginia Torres: Leasing lands. INQUIRER FILE PHOTOS
Two years after figuring in a viral YouTube video showing her playing on a slot machine in an unnamed casino, which reportedly prompted President Benigno Aquino III to show her the door as Land Transportation Office (LTO) chief, former Assistant Transportation Secretary Virginia Torres recently showed up at the Bureau of Customs (BOC) to do business. She left empty-handed.
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The controversial ex-LTO head, said to be one of the President鈥檚 shooting buddies, gave customs personnel a big surprise when she showed up at the Customs-Intelligence Group (IG) office on Aug. 20 allegedly to negotiate the release of at least 64 shipping containers of smuggled Thai sugar worth more than P100 million.
The shipments, misdeclared as general merchandise, were not covered by any import permits from the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA), an agency under the Department of Agriculture.
Imported through dummy firms, the sugar was part of more than 120 shipments that were the subject of at least 24 alert orders issued by the IG during the past five months.
Worse, Torres allegedly dropped the name of President Aquino and suggested that the proceeds from the sale of the illegally imported sugar would be used in the 2016 elections.
Sought for comment, Customs Deputy Commissioner Jessie Dellosa confirmed to the Inquirer that Torres 鈥減aid a visit to the IG office to appeal her case.鈥
Dellosa, a former Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff, said that while his staff鈥擲pecial Assistant Willie Tolentino, former Customs Enforcement and Security Service (ESS) chief鈥攑olitely listened to Torres鈥 plea, 鈥渢he fact that the shipments were in violation of the law cannot be overlooked.鈥
Dellosa asserted that 鈥渢he 鈥榳ho鈥 in illegal imports has never been a consideration in meeting the IG鈥檚 actions on Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines-related concerns.鈥
鈥淓ach and every case is reviewed and acted upon solely on the facts and circumstances,鈥 Dellosa said.
With the late 2013 launch of the customs bureau鈥檚 reform program, the IG 鈥渉as upheld total objectivity, fairness and impartiality in pursuing its mandate of protecting government interests in revenue collections and our people from the entry of contraband,鈥 he added.
Shipment not hers
Contacted by phone, Torres admitted dropping by the IG office on Aug. 20 to see Dellosa and appeal the seizure of several shipments of imported 鈥済eneral merchandise.鈥
鈥淏ut I wasn鈥檛 able to talk to him. Instead, it was (Tolentino) who talked to me and took note of my request,鈥 she said.
Torres said the shipments were not hers. 鈥淚 made the appeal on behalf of my friend (Philip Sy, who also showed up at the IG office minutes after Torres鈥 arrival),鈥 she said.
鈥淭hat is why, when (Tolentino) explained to me that they could not release the sugar shipments, I reprimanded Philip. I didn鈥檛 know that they were smuggled sugar. I was told by Philip they鈥檙e general merchandise,鈥 she said.
Torres claimed that she had no knowledge of the import business.
鈥淧hilip just asked me to help him,鈥 she said, stressing 鈥淚鈥檓 not for illegal business,鈥 referring to smuggling.
Sy, described by customs insiders as a 鈥渃ustoms player,鈥 did not respond to this reporter鈥檚 request for an interview.
Sugar planter
鈥淚鈥檓 busy here in Tarlac. I lease property in a hacienda,鈥 Torres said, but did not name the sugar plantation.
Torres also confirmed that she had been seeing Customs Commissioner Alberto Lina, whom she described as her 鈥渓ongtime friend.鈥
鈥淚t was just a friendly visit鈥o business at all,鈥 she said.
A source from the Office of the Commissioner said that during her visit, Torres was accompanied by a 鈥渃ertain Colonel Liwanag鈥 and a 鈥渃ertain Nory,鈥 said to be a former driver at Malaca帽ang.
Customs personnel interviewed for this report disputed some of Torres鈥 claims.
According to them, part of her conversation with Tolentino went like this:
Tolentino: 鈥淚鈥檓 talking to you because you seem to have a problem.鈥
Torres: 鈥淵es. The sugar that just arrived has also come under alert order. We鈥檙e asking you for advice.鈥
Tolentino: 鈥淲hen was the alert ordered?鈥
Torres: 鈥淎h, just recently.鈥
Tolentino: 鈥淚s that yours?鈥
Torres: 鈥淵es. Philip, my partner, said . . .鈥
Tolentino: 鈥淗ow many containers?鈥
Torres: 鈥淪ixty-four.鈥
Tolentino: 鈥淚f it has come under alert order, it will be difficult for us to do anything.鈥
Torres (chuckling): 鈥淣ot all, please 鈥 And what we should do 鈥 Maybe something just needs to be signed and the shipments can be released.鈥
Tolentino: 鈥淏ut why did you not get an import permit? Before I left ESS, the Task Force Pantalan seized (eight containers). That鈥檚 also sugar.鈥
Torres: 鈥淭hat鈥檚 also mine, that鈥檚 why we are going after it.鈥
Tolentino: 鈥淎h, it鈥檚 also yours? Wow! Why?鈥
Election time again
Torres: 鈥淗elp us, please (humming) 鈥 It鈥檚 election time again . . . Our problem is Deputy Commissioner Dellosa 鈥 Maybe we can meet 鈥 There are many smugglers. Why the others . . . I鈥檒l follow you.鈥
A source said Torres mentioned the President鈥檚 name and claimed she had contacts at the SRA.
鈥淚 have contacts there. We have an SRA permit, but it鈥檚 local . . . Don鈥檛 we grow sugarcane at (Hacienda) Luisita? Were you not reported in newspapers as grateful to the President 鈥 ? I lease and we plant together,鈥 Torres said.
READ: Aquino ally leases lands from Luisita beneficiaries
Both President Aquino and Torres hail from Tarlac province. Torres, a native of La Paz town, served as LTO head in Tarlac before the President appointed her assistant transportation secretary to head the LTO in 2010.
READ: In the Know: Virginia Torres鈥 ties to Aquinos
The Sugar Alliance of the Philippines (SAP), the biggest group of sugar planters and millers in the country, said it was 鈥渧ery alarmed鈥 because 鈥渋f this report about Torres鈥 visit to the Bureau of Customs is validated, it proves that former government officials like Virginia Torres have been dropping and using the President鈥檚 good name in asking BOC officials to lift the alert orders on smuggled sugar shipments for their personal gain.鈥
鈥淚t is likewise alarming that Ms Torres is allegedly intimating to customs officials that the funds will be used for the coming elections,鈥 said Manuel Lamata, chair of the SAP.
Lamata said the SAP had been 鈥渞eceiving reports that some government officials are using their position to act as power brokers at customs.鈥
But 鈥渢his is the first time for us to hear that an official brazenly and wantonly flaunted her alleged links to the President to get away without fear that somebody might hear or report her to the President himself,鈥 he added.
鈥淭o go to the BOC to allegedly negotiate an otherwise illegal deal is an act of either supreme confidence or desperation,鈥 he said.
Bad for local farmers
The SAP warned that releasing smuggled sugar to the local market would curtail demand. 鈥淗ence, nobody will buy local sugar anymore,鈥 the group said.
鈥淚t will also harm our farmers because they will be competing against sugar that has been highly subsidized by the Thai government. That鈥檚 cheap sugar to be dumped on us. Likewise, imported sugar is not subjected to any quality control tests here, making them suspect to use,鈥 it said.
Lamata has brought the issue to the attention of former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, now the presidential standard-bearer of the ruling Liberal Party in the 2016 elections.
鈥淲e wanted Secretary Mar Roxas to look into this matter,鈥 Lamata said, recalling Roxas鈥 promise, made in a speech during the recent Philippine Sugar Technology convention in Cebu City, that he would support the industry.
鈥淭his is a golden opportunity for Secretary Mar to prove that he indeed has our backs and that the insinuation that the funds will be used for the elections is not true,鈥 Lamata said.
He urged Roxas to 鈥渓ook into the activities of these smugglers, especially those who use their perceived closeness to the powers-that-be to extract favors.鈥
鈥淎t the very least, he needs to denounce the activities of these unscrupulous officials,鈥 Lamata said.
The SAP earlier called for the resignation of Lina for allegedly allowing sugar smuggling to flourish.
Lina is 鈥渘o good for the industry and no good for the country,鈥 Lamata said.
Sought for comment, Lina said: 鈥淭hat鈥檚 his right鈥ut I serve at the pleasure of the President.鈥
In a letter to President Aquino, the SAP condemned the 鈥渄ramatic increase in sugar smuggling during the past four months.鈥
That 鈥渟adly coincides with the appointment of Commissioner Lina as head of the BOC,鈥 the SAP said, noting that in a previous letter to Malaca帽ang, it 鈥渢ried to warn鈥 the President that 鈥淐ommissioner Lina鈥檚 soft stance on smuggling will be perceived by criminal syndicates as a sign that the ports are now open for business.鈥
Lina strongly denied the SAP鈥檚 claims, saying the customs bureau鈥檚 intensified campaign against sugar smuggling was a work in progress.
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