Expose! Groups operating at Bureau of Customs

My brothers in arms, Captains Gambala and Maestrecampo were careless. They gambled their reputations that easily. I am sad to hear that their names were involved in this scandal which rocked the Bureau of Customs.

Sources within the agency shared with me that there is one group that is laughing very hard right now--the group which made themselves filthy rich during the time of Madame Arroyo. Yes, they are now benefitting from what is happening at the bureau.

When the new administration posted their nominees at the bureau, brokers gravitated first, to the group of Faeldon. Faeldon's group, unfortunately, played the "game". Several people whom Faeldon brought with him used his name to get millions from smugglers.

However, there was another group which tried and succeeded in getting all the monthly take inside the bureau--they represented themselves as the "Davao Group". Three people went the rounds and talked with brokers and smugglers--pay up or you get your cargoes in trouble.

These people, two men, and one woman enjoy the trust and confidence of Duterte's son, Paolo, who now serves as vice mayor of Davao. Paolo is close to them because they are the ones who helped him reportedly smuggle SUVs, sacks of rice, and other imported goods in Davao in the past. Several NBI agents who investigated Paolo's involvement in big-time smuggling activities in Davao are now put in the freezer, and their assets in Davao exposed. One of them, sources say, was executed.

Several businessmen, one of them fought with Faeldon when Faeldon tried to stop his shipment, swear about the "power" of Paolo Duterte.

" He can do wonders", says this Filipino-Chinese businessman. To be fair to this businessman, he is not a smuggler. He got into Paolo's good graces thru another Chinoy who is now a resource person of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee. Yet, several of Faeldon's men tried to force him to give some monies reportedly in exchange for clearance of his shipments. When he refused, Faeldon's men reportedly made his life hard. It was only thru the intercession of Paolo did Faeldon's men stopped their harassment of the businessman.

Prior to the May 27 shabu smuggling incident, three groups of influence peddlers operate within the bureau: several Bureau officials reportedly close to Faeldon, the Davao Group which takes most of the weekly tara and the group composed of a woman who is very close to the group of a former president.

With Faeldon out of the picture, who among these groups do you think is seriously laughing at what's happening at the customs? Like Faeldon's, the Davao group is also taking the heat, and the pressure is political. The President's fate is even linked or hinged to this.