THE Bureau of Customs on Wednesday said it will aggressively pursue smugglers even as they asked law enforcers to deepen their investigation of the killing of Customs Deputy Commissioner Arturo Lachica last November.
Lachica, the bureau’s deputy commissioner for its Internal Administration Group, was killed last Nov. 17 in an ambush on España Boulevard in Manila.
“Our resolve to push for our fight against smuggling and corruption at the BoC has never been stronger than today due to the countless sacrifices of our comrades at the bureau. Some even shed blood in our war for righteousness,” said BoC Director for Legal Service lawyer Alvin Ebreo.
Ebreo, head of the newly-formed Bureau Action Team Against Smuggling, cited the Lachica’s still unsolved as proof of the bureau’s commitment to fight corruption.
“I assure you that his death, which we are investigating, will not be wasted because his blood inspired our common resolve to fight corruption at the bureau,” Ebreo said, adding the creation of BATAS is the bureau’s concrete response to the government’s war against corruption.
Meanwhile, United Filipino Consumers and Commuters president Rodolfo “RJ” Javellana Jr. revealed that Lachica was shot dead only hours after he received the UFCC complaint seeking an alert order on a shipment of steel due to serious tariff issue.
“When we personally presented our complaint letter for Commissioner Faeldon, Lachica told us that the same importer, the Mannage Resources Trading Corp., filed a case against him,” he said.
The P500-million steel cargo shipment of MRTC was held from being released pending investigation, Javellana added.
