Ducky Paredes

“If the PASG – a special group of enforcers under the office of the President – cannot even do the job or which it was set up (and instead colludes with the smugglers themselves) – how can this administration lead us anywhere but to perdition?”

by Ducky Paredes

Let us tell this strange story from the beginning, the better to sort out the confusing tale of missing walls and inept enforcers.
Once upon a time (it was actually April 3, 2009), two government agencies both reporting to the Office of the President – the Optical Media Board (OMB) and the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group (PASG) – raided a house in Quezon City. In that house, they caught three persons, including a Malaysian called Tio Choon Song.
The greater prize, however, were replicating machines that turn out those fake DVDs. The total haul of replicating machines was valued at over P100 million. The three person caught in the fake DVD factory were charged by the OMB with violating Optical Media Act (R.A. 9239).
On the part of the PASG, it padlocked the house containing the contraband machines and equipment, which would be used to prove the government’s case before a court.
The OMB, under Chairman Edu Manzano, asked the PASG for the machines. He wanted custody over the machines to be given to OMB as mandated by the Optical Media Act. The PASG rejected OMB’s repeated requests. Thus, on April 27, 2009, OMB Chairman Manzano was forced to go to court to ask for custody of the replicating equipment. The court granted this on June 22, 2009.
The OMB then went to the house with the court’s order. What did Chairman Edu find? Nothing,
Apparently, the seized items had been taken by unidentified persons who tore down a wall of the house through which the seized items were spirited out.
How could this happen? PASG chief Antonio Villar blames the OMB for the disappearance of the facilities. He said these were turned over to the OMB on April 3, the same day raid was made. If this were a real fairy tale, Villar’s nose would have become as long as Pinocchio’s. Obviously, the PASG Chief is not overly truthful. Why would the OMB go to court to take possession of the machines if the OMB had custody of the machines since the day of the raid? Not only that, it is on record that despite repeated letters from OMB asking for custody of the machines, the PASG Chairman himself wrote back denying the OMB request.
OMB says that the PASG refused to turn over the said items in spite of their repeated requests. Only the three suspects were turned over to the OMB. In fact, PASG documents themselves contradict Villar’s claim. In the Compliance/Return of the Search Warrant dated April 7, 2009 and executed by PO2 Gilbert Abarro of the PASG, he told the court thus:
“Following the search and inventory of the seized articles subject of the search warrant, the same are being retained thereat and guarded by PASG-PNP components. Hereto attached are photographs of the said articles.
“The three (3) apprehended suspects were subsequently turned over to the custody of the Office of the Optical Media Board thru Atty. Rosendo B. Meneses for further investigation and disposition.”
The Optical Media Act gives OMB exclusive authority and jurisdiction over all matters concerning the optical media industry. So how did the PASG get involved here? It appears that it was actually the PASG, which initiated the operation by applying for a search warrant against a certain Trajano Tin Fu. This was granted by Judge Vivencio Baclig of Branch 77 of the Regional Trial Court of Quezon City.
Purportedly, the warrant was for “unlawful possession of replicating machine and/or equipment used in the replication of optical media without license from the Optical Media Board.”  It was alleged though, that the warrant was also for violation of the Tariff and Customs Code. This second violation is what gave the PASG the authority to ask for the warrant.
Manzano claims that on the evening of April 2, 2009, Villar called him up and asked for a certification that the objects mentioned in the warrant were not registered with the OMB. He also requested for assistance in conducting the raid but insisted that it should be the one to serve the search warrant since it was the party that applied for it. The OMB agreed on condition that the facilities seized should be turned over to it as provided by law.
While Manzano is careful not to accuse Chairman Villar of any misdeed, he asked the PASG chief to look into the activities of his men. Manzano claims that the PASG did not participate in the filing of the criminal cases against the suspects. In fact, the anti-smuggling agency did not and has not filed a complaint for the alleged violation of the Tariff and Customs Code, which was one of the reasons why the PASG applied for the search warrant in the first place.
It also turns out that last June 2, unknown to the OMB, lawyers of the accused filed with Judge Baclig a Motion to quash the search warrant. The PASG was aware of this development and even hired a certain Atty. Antonio Baranda to oppose the motion. The OMB came to know about the motion to quash when Baranda went to the OMB on June 10 and informed the agency about this. OMB assured Baranda that it would provide any documents he might need and agreed that the OMB would also sign the Opposition to Quash the Search Warrant.
Still unknown to the OMB, Judge Baclig issued an order granting the respondents’ motion to quash the warrant. The order was dated June 11, or one day after lawyer Baranda went to OMB. The OMB received a copy of this order only on June 18. It would appear therefore, that although PASG all along had known about this motion to quash, it failed to inform the OMB.
Among the reasons cited by the court for quashing the search warrant were that “the applicant (PO2 Gilbert Abarro) failed to appear” during the hearing on the said motion.
Even more serious is the fact that the PASG failed to present evidence to prove its allegation concerning the violation of the Tariff and Customs Code. This was clearly stated in the court’s decision, which said:
“While the law contemplated in the application to have been violated is the Tariff and Customs Code, no evidence was presented during the examination under oath to substantiate the theory of the applicant that the respondent is liable for violation of the Tariff and Customs Code, particularly the unlawful importation of replicating machine and other equipment used in the illegal manufacturing and production of DVDs and CDs.”
Manzano is particularly incensed over Villar’s accusation that one of his officers was paid P10 million for the release of the seized equipment. OMB executive director Rosendo Meneses says that it is he that Villar refers to as having been bribed. He strongly denies the accusation.
Indeed, this bribe allegation is silly. For how could an OMB official release the seized machines and equipment when the PASG was in effective physical control and possession the items to be released?
From all these, there are several intriguing questions that beg for answers from the PASG:
Why did it not turn over the seized items to the OMB as mandated by R.A. 9239?
Why did it not help in filing the criminal cases for illegal possession of the replicating machines?
Why did PASG not file charges for what it alleged was a violation of the Tariff and Customs Code?
As the party to whom the Search Warrant was issued, why did it fail to notify OMB about the Motion to Quash?
Why did its operative, PO2 Gilbert Abarro, fail to appear in court to testify during the hearing?
How could the PASG have failed to notice the disappearance of the machines – and a whole wall of the house — when PASG-PNP components were guarding the premises?
And, lastly, how could the PASG – including Chairman Villar himself — not have known that a wall had been torn down and the P100 million machines carted off? If Villar knew about this, why did he wait until the OMB discovered that the machines were missing and the wall had vanished before accusing the OMB of being responsible for the fiasco?
If the PASG – a special group of enforcers under the office of the President – cannot even do the job for which it was set up (and instead colludes with the smugglers themselves) – how can this administration lead us anywhere but to perdition?
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“(W)hat makes you a man is not the ability to have a child but the courage to raise one. – Barack Obama

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hvp 07.05.09)