Customs Intel Chief Lim issues warning to bribe givers in Bureau of Customs
CUSTOMS Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence Danilo D. Lim has warned transacting individuals in the Bureau of Customs (BOC) to stop giving “Tara” or bribe money to anyone soliciting in his name or for his office people citing that it will be dealt with the full force of the law.
“Let it be a public knowledge that: I neither asked for “Tara” nor appointed anyone to solicit either for myself or for my office,” Lim declared.
In a one-page memorandum order dated October 14, 2011, Lim claimed that he was anonymously informed that some individuals have been collecting “Tara” using his name, and “some of it were already earmarked for pick up by his representative.”
As a matter of fact, customs police last week at the Manila International Container Port while on the act of solicitation using Lim’s name has already apprehended two individuals.
Lim’s memo was addressed to everyone stating:
“To all concerned, beware: Bribery is a crime. All other related crimes that are a result of bribery have corresponding severe penalties under the Revised Penal Code of the Philippines (RPCP).
“This authority will not hesitate to seek for harshest penalty under RPCP, if condition is called for and necessary.” It said.
Lim, noted as a resolute advocate of good governance, highlighted his memo by citing:
“I revere on the time-honored principle that: A Public Office is a Public Trust.”
Lim, a bemedalled chief of the scout ranger regiment of the Philippine Army, has led a couple of coups d’ etat against weak and corrupt past administrations in a serious call for genuine reforms and stopping corruption in the bureaucracy to ensure that all blessings of democracy are enjoyed by all Filipinos.
Corruption and smuggling are tagged as ‘highways of perdition’ that blocks government efforts towards generating needed revenues. Moreover, corrupt and greedy BOC officials, customs brokers, players, and smugglers are shameless and voracious economic saboteurs who selfishly ransack duties and taxes in heartless arrogance and extreme prejudice of the state and its people.
So far, Lim’s memo is cited as the first and historic administrative order in BOC that was ever issued by a presidential appointee to that seriously graft-ridden agency.
Here is a copy of a historical memo from Customs DepCom for Intelligence Gen. Danny Lim addressed to all Customs Brokers and others informing them that he has not authorized anybody to collect for him any “SOPs” or “TARA” from brokers or importers.
TARA is another word for “lagay”, an amount that is said to be collected every Friday from importers or their brokers and distributed to powerful personalities.