Taguba exposes BOC money-making scheme

Customs officials and personnel are too powerful, especially when they are backed by the powers-that-be in government, businessman Mark Taguba said during the 13th hearing of the quad committee of the House of Representatives.

- By JOSE RODEL CLAPANO

Taguba also claimed that corrupt Bureau of Customs officials and personnel, especially those belonging to the Customs Command Center, are earning billions from tara or grease money.

During the hearing, Taguba said prior to his recent conviction for multiple charges of drug smuggling involving P6.4 billion worth of illegal drugs from China seized by authorities in Valenzuela City in 2017, business for him had been very profitable.

He said this profitability came after paying P5 million in "enrollment fee" to the "Davao Group," which he described as a mafia-type syndicate in smuggling allegedly headed by Davao City Rep. Paolo Duterte, son of former president Duterte.

Being enlisted in the Davao group, he added, was a worthy investment since it solved the problem of having the containers held without legal basis.