The problem with smuggling

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor GUILLERMO TEJIDA III Desk Editor NANETTE L. GUADALQUIVER Busines Editor CEDELF P. TUPAS Sports Editor (On Leave) RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

The President's newly formed anti-smuggling group, creatively dubbed the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group (PASG), after just one week on the job, is already reported to be going through its baptism of fire. It has reportedly come under "tremendous pressure" from unnamed government officials regarding the release of 142 container vans containing highly taxable goods, worth some P500 million seized as contraband by the group earlier this week.

After PASG chief Antonio Villar Jr. reported this to the President, he was ordered to adopt an "iron fist" approach in the fight against smuggling, especially against those people who use her name or members of the first family, to facilitate the release of questionable shipments. If this "iron fist" approach were to be followed, this means that the PASG will have the authority to arrest these name-droppers who have been using power and influence to blatantly break the law.

What will test the resolve of the PASG will be the fact that these name-droppers, who by the groups' own admission, are high-ranking government officials. Will the PASG be actually able to arrest anybody? Will this new group justify its existence, one that has been questioned due to the redundant nature of its mandate, by coming up with concrete results in the fight against smuggling by stopping groups and practices, that have continued to flourish under the watch of the Bureau of Customs? Or will the PASG become just another acronym to be added to the smugglers list of government agencies to bribe?

The Bureau of Customs has consistently been ranked among the most coveted government agencies due to the "potentials" working with smugglers promises. The PASG is this administration's version of the numerous half-hearted past attempts at repairing this tainted image. Only time, and the quality of its leadership, will tell if the PASG will go down in history as something that President GMA can be proud of, or as another vehicle for graft and corruption.*