Duterte: Davidson Bangayan is David Tan. Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte shows a photo of alleged rice smuggler David Tan during a Senate inquiry on rice smuggling on Monday, February 3, where he told senators that Tan and businessman Davidson Bangayan are one. Bangayan has repeatedly denied that he is David Tan. Benjie Castro
Malacañang on Tuesday reminded government officials that it is their duty to uphold the law after a mayor’s statement suggested he would take the law into his own hands to stop rice smuggling in his city.
“All government officials whether local or national have the basic responsibility to uphold the rule of law,” Presidential Communications Operations Office head Herminio Coloma Jr. said during a press conference.
Coloma made the statement after Davao City mayor Rodrigo Duterte said he would “gladly kill” alleged rice smuggler Davidson Bangayan if the trader is caught smuggling in his city.
“Sabi, may bumaba ditong smuggled goods. Sabi ko pagbababarilin ko kayo. If this guy goes, I will gladly kill him. I will not hesitate. I will do it for my country,” Duterte told the Senate agriculture committee during a hearing on rice smuggling.
Aside from this, the mayor had also lamented the slow pace of justice in going after rice smugglers.
Systemic reforms
On Tuesday, Coloma said the government has already instituted several revamps within the Bureau of Customs but that this is not enough to solve the problem of smuggling.
“Pero hindi pa sapat yan, kinakailangan yung mga systemic reforms,” he said.
He said President Benigno Aquino III ordered Customs Commissioner John Philip Sevilla to take steps to “promote transparency and openness, simplified transactions, and adopted a systemic approach to plug loopholes and minimize opportunities for graft and corruption.”
The specific reform measures, he said, include:
– centralized single reference for valuation information
– implementation of a single dispute resolution process for valuation
– digitization of every single formal transaction
– review of the monitoring of Customs bonded warehouses
– revamp of the importer accreditation process
– intensified monitoring of sensitive imports
Aside from this, Coloma also cited government efforts in filing cases against smugglers.
He specifically said that since 2010, the government has filed a total of 157 cases under the Run After Tax Evaders and Smugglers program for an average of one case per week.
He said the National Food Authority, for its part, has been preparing stricter regulations for rice importation. — BM, GMA News
