An employee of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) was caught in an entrapment operation trying to extort money from two student-trainees of a brokerage firm.
In an entrapment operation led by BOC’s Intelligence Group (IG) on November 12, Customs employee Aristotle Tumala, who has been with the agency for 12 years, was nabbed after receiving P7,000 in marked money from two student-trainees seeking the release of the tax-exempt imports of Panay Power from the Port of Iloilo. The trainees were graduating students taking up BS Customs Administration and doing their internship at a licensed brokerage firm as part of their on-the-job training.
The two trainees went to Tumala, who works in the office of the Tax-Exempt Division as administrative aide in processing and releasing endorsements for the release of shipments, to request clearance of their imports.
Tumala then allegedly said there was a problem with their papers and that “kailangan ng ulo ng aso.” Sensing that the phrase ulo ng aso referred to a bribe, the students asked how much, and Tumala supposedly said P7,000.
According to brokers, ulo ng aso is a code for money and pertains to a small design resembling the head of a dog on the upper left portion of the 1,000-peso bill.
The trainees reported the incident to the IG officials. An entrapment operation was mobilized by Deputy Commissioner for IG Jessie Dellosa together with Customs Director Willie Tolentino. The suspect was immediately apprehended after he received the marked money, and is now facing criminal and administrative charges.
“We are doing this to rid the Customs of the culture of corruption that has plagued the Bureau and to show that we mean business in reforming the BOC,” Dellosa said in a statement.
“This is also to show everybody, especially these students, that there is no room for corruption in the Bureau of Customs. You may thrive now or get away with your extortion activities but we will still get you in the end,” Dellosa said.
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
