MANILA: Right under the noses of Bureau of Customs (BOC) officials, drums of seized diesel fuel stored at the BOC-Port of Clark (POC) have been pilfered and replaced with water.
Customs Commissioner John Sevilla said yesterday it was only last month that he learned about the disappearance of 135 of a total of 156 drums of diesel — with an estimated value of over Pm1 — that were supposed to have been placed in a secure spot near the POC.
“As of now, we don’t know what happened, except that what was once diesel has become water.
We are looking into those who might be held accountable for this irregularity and trying to find out when did this happen and who were on duty at that time,” Sevilla said.
But the disappearance of the drums did not happen overnight. The irregularity was first uncovered during the term of former Customs commissioner Rufino Biazon.
BOC-POC deputy district collector Greg Pineda said there was an on-going internal investigation on the matter and they had asked the Philippine National Police and National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to conduct a separate probe.
Pineda admitted that some details remained unclear since the pilferage had been happening during the terms of four district collectors.
In April 2013, the POC discovered that 65 of the 156 drums had been replaced with water and sludge.
The Philippine star
