Two officials of the Bureau of Customs (BoC) have been relieved to give way to an impartial investigation by the agency’s Internal Inquiry and Prosecution Division (IIPD) on the alleged pilferage of high-end electronic gadgets.

In a letter dated March 10, Customs Intelligence Chief Fernandino Tuason recommended the relief of Eric Albano, chief of the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service (CIIS) Operations Section, and his assistant Mitchell Verdeflor.

It was approved by Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales and took effect last March 12.
Albano and Verdeflor have been placed under investigation following the missing plasma television sets, cameras, Sony portable playstation, and many other gadgets, at the BoC's warehouse in the Port of Manila last month.

They were already subpoenaed by the IIPD, together with other Customs personnel and a broker representative, to shed light on the case.

IIPD chief lawyer Willie Sarmiento said they have already conducted an inventory of the electronic gadgets that were taken out as samples from Warehouse 159.

“It might not even be correct to say that the items were missing since they were just in the office of CIIS. We still have an ongoing investigation to ascertain whether or not pilferage was indeed committed,” Sarmiento said.

But another Customs official, who requested not to be named, was not convinced, saying that BoC Deputy Commissioner Jairus Paguntalan for Intelligence Group has much to answer for his agents since they were not authorized to get them even as they will be used as evidence.