MORE questions arose over the recent relief of former Customs deputy commissioner Arnel Alcaraz after his lawyer claimed the dismissal may have been a case of mistaken identity.
Lawyer Mark Jon Palomar said Alvarez’s dismissal as head of the Enforcement and Security Service may have been a product of internal intrigue since both President Rodrigo Duterte and Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez said they intended to dismiss the deputy commissioner for intelligence.
“I think it is common knowledge that there are powerful groups that exert a tremendous amount of influence within the Bureau of Customs,” Palomar said.
“Given the highly irregular circumstances surrounding the dismissal of Deputy Commissioner Alcaraz, it appears that they have successfully run an operation against a decent and highly competent public servant,” the lawyer said of his client.
“If the aim of President Duterte and Secretary Dominguez is to weed out corrupt officials from the BoC, the dismissal of Deputy Commissioner Alcaraz makes absolutely no sense,” Palomar emphasized.
“Alcaraz has an unblemished track record throughout his career, and what makes it even more confusing is that they [Duterte and Dominguez] clearly identified the Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence as the BoC official being investigated,” Palomar said.
The current Deputy Commissioner OIC (Officer-in-Charge) for Intelligence is lawyer Leon P. Mogao Jr. and he even issued an an official statement denying all accusations of corruption against him last October 27.
“Given the issues being raised against him and his subsequent denial, it therefore came as no surprise when the President and the good secretary informed the media that he was being suspended,” Palomar noted.
“All of a sudden and without any explanation, it was deputy commissioner Alcaraz who got booted out,” the lawyer said.
Palomar said he found it strange that ranking BoC officials “assumed” that Duterte and Dominguez were referring to Alcaraz “because he is the only commissioner that has a formal complaint from the NBI” when there are no charges against Alcaraz before the NBI.
“Up to this day, Deputy Commissioner Alcaraz has not received a single formal complaint from the NBI. The man is clean; there is nothing to complain about. What he did receive—under very suspicious circumstances—was a simple request from the NBI to respond to allegations from a certain Ronald G. Lansangan,” Palomar pointed out.
The lawyer said Lansangan, representing himself as an employee of a licensed customs broker, lodged a complaint against Alcaraz with the NBI a day before Duterte and Dominguez announced the BoC revamp.
But the broker, whom Lansangan was representting, denied that Lansangan was an employee or was even authorized to represent the brokerage firm. Moreover, despite repeated attempts, the NBI has refused to show Alcaraz and his attorney a copy of Lansangan’s allegations.