ZAMBOANGA CITY: Mayor Beng Climaco repeated
her warning against smuggling activities in the city as Customs Deputy
Commissioner Jessie de Llosa arrived here the other day.
Llosa is in the city to verify the
mysterious disappearance of close to 900 sacks of smuggled sugar, earlier
confiscated for lack of legal documents and kept in the BOC warehouse at the
port area.
Reports have said that of the total
1,170 sacks of sugar seized in Bolong and turned over to the BOC last week,
only 325 sacks were accounted.
Climaco said she will not tolerate
smuggling, and allow her name to be dragged into this kind of malpractice.
The media reported the other day that
Climaco’s name was allegedly used for the release of the unaccounted 845 sacks
of sugar purportedly from Malaysia.
The mayor added her office is investigating
the suspicious disappearance of the sacks of sugar purportedly from Malaysia.
She said any type of smuggling in
the city will mean losing of government funds in the form of taxes due the
government.
It was learned that this is the
second visit of BOC officials from Manila to address reported rampant smuggling
activities at the Zamboanga port.