A former spokesperson of the Bureau of Customs and Port of Manila district collector—lawyer Erasto Sandino Austria—on Wednesday denied any involvement in the illegal release of 641 containers of ship spares here at the port.
At a news conference in Quezon City, Austria believed he was reassigned from the Manila International Container Port to the Port of Davao because some people wanted to ease him out, and not because of the "disappearance" of the 641 containers at the Port of Manila.
"Yes, I would say that is the case since I did not want to cooperate," he told reporters.
He blamed the Del Rosario rice cartel as behind his transfer when he issued decrees of abandonment of 1,500 containers of overstaying rice, "which I inherited from the previous administration."
"They [group] have an axe to grind against me," he said.
Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero formed a special investigation committee that tagged 10 people, including Austria, as supposedly involved in the “disappearance” of some 641 containers described as "ship spares in transit" at the Port of Manila in 2018.
"I cannot cease to be amazed how the committee formed by the commissioner of customs to investigate this matter failed to see these clear and simple facts, and instead found me liable despite clear, convincing and unequivocal proof of my innocence," Austria's statement read.
"Why me? In fact, when I learned about the (illegal) release of the containers, I initiated a probe," he said.
Austria claimed the job to discover the anomaly is within the function of the Piers and Inspection Division (PID), "the only authorized office at the Port (of Manila) that can receive the electronic transmission of all shipping manifest of all vessels calling at that port, which in this case is the Port of Manila."
He, however, denied he was charged with an administrative case.
Meanwhile, Austria said they auctioned tapioca starch, not shabu worth over P1 billion last April, seized in a shipment in Malabon City.
Senator Panfilo Lacson questioned the Bureau of Customs and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency for their decision to auction off the shipment of supposed P1 billion worth of illegal drugs as a way to smoke out the real owner of the merchandise.
"What we auctioned was tapioca starch," Austria said.
"The substance was tested. It was negative of drugs. I based my actions on the (laboratory) results of PDEA that it was not shabu," he added.
He said PDEA maintained that the entrapment story was "legitimate."
"The two agencies — PDEA and BoC — thus issued aligned statements claiming that they knew about the drugs all along. They allegedly auction it off to smoke out the drug smugglers through an entrapment operation disguised as a public bidding," he said in a statement.
As then the Customs spokesperson, he said he opposed the issuance of such a statement, "knowing full well that this was a fabrication."