MANILA, Philippines — Despite an existing suspension order from the Office of the Commissioner (OCOM), a port official continues to report for work, even allegedly attending a meeting on the Bureau of Customs (BOC) anti-smuggling operations, a source privy to the meeting said on Wednesday.
Oliver Pacunayen, Port of Manila-Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service (BOC-CIIS) station chief, was seen at the BOC on Jan. 19.
"The meeting's agenda was about the [PNP]-Highway Patrol Group's seizure of smuggled cigarettes and immediate anti-smuggling operations of the BOC," the source who requested anonymity told The Manila Times.
The Times asked Commissioner Arnel Nepomuceno if he had lifted his suspension order against Pacunayen but did not respond.
Assistant Commissioner and concurrent spokesman Philip Vincent Maronilla clarified that Pacunayen was not reporting for duty as he was still under preventive suspension and that his presence was due to a hearing on an ongoing investigation against him.
Pacunayen's alleged defiance raised doubts that "there was really no formal written suspension order but only a verbal order."
But Maronilla said that "there is [an order], it (suspension) cannot be done verbally," adding that the office of the deputy commissioner for intelligence has a copy of the suspension order.
Nepomuceno confirmed to The Times on Jan. 7 that he ordered the relief of Pacunayen following allegations of irregularities.
"I have no choice but to relieve him," Nepomuceno, in a viber message, told The Times.
Pacunayen was among those mentioned in a letter sent to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. by concerned officials, employees and stakeholders of the BOC alleging the resurgence of massive smuggling activities in Customs ports across the country that resulted in significant shortfalls in revenue collections.
