A businessman in Davao City wants Customs Commissioner Angelito A. Alvarez cited for indirect contempt of court for defying an order of the Supreme Court to resume operation of a designated examination area (DEA) inside his container yard.
In a petition lodged before the Regional Trial Court (RTC), 11th Judicial Region in Davao City, businessman Rodolfo Reta, operator of the Acquarius Container Yard, also prayed that a bench warrant of arrest be issued against Commissioner Alvarez should he continue defying the order and that he be put in jail until he obeys and complies with a writ of preliminary injunction.
In an eight-page petition he filed last Oct. 1, Reta charged that Alvarez signified not only a willful disregard or disobedience of the court’s order but such tends to bring the authority of the court and the administration of the law into dispute or in some manner to impede due administration of justice.
Reta was referring to the ruling of the Supreme Court on Aug. 4 which in turn upheld the April 19 order of the Regional Trial Court to allow the resumption of the DEA operations at his container yard. The operations were earlier halted on orders of Port of Davao Collector Anju Nereo Castigador.
Later on Reta’s petition, RTC Branch 14 Judge George Omelio ordered Castigador’s arrest for failing to implement the court order. Omelio issued the arrest warrant on Sept. 17.
Reta has also filed cases against Castigador and some port officials before the RTC and the Office of the Ombudsman.
In his latest petition, Reta said Alvarez deserves to be punished for his contemptuous defiance and mockery he has shown by disobeying said lawful order of the court.
He pointed out that since the release of the Supreme Court order on July 13 until the filing of the latest petition, examination of containers were all done at the Sasa wharf, not at the DEA inside his container yard pursuant to a January 2009 memorandum of agreement (MOA) that he had signed with former Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales. The MOA stipulated that for the next 25 years, all examinations of laden containers be made in the DEA inside Reta’s yard. Under the arrangement, Reta would provide hustling, stripping/stiffing and left-on/lift-on and other allied services. The DEA’s establishment in Reta’s container yard outside the customs zone was reportedly designed to minimize if not completely eliminate smuggling activities at the port. Examination done at a third party’s yard is believed effective in preventing possible collusion between port officials and smugglers, pinpointed as one reason government is not able to achieve its collection target. The agreement was signed after the Philippine Ports Authority officials testified that PPA did not have space to conduct examinations of container vans.
The conflict between Reta and the local customs headed by Castigador started on Feb. 10 when Reta found out that one of the 40 container vans that were supposed to contain construction materials was found to be containing rice. This prompted the inspector, Nilo A. Lim to recommend that the containers be subjected to a thorough physical examination.
Some Customs officials tried to examine the cargo, but when they noticed that someone was with them, taking pictures, they immediately left the area. It was also discovered that a Customs official had already issued gate passes for the questionable cargo even before they were examined.
Through his lawyer Manuel Quibod, Reta informed Castigador about the problem.
Instead of ordering the investigation, Castigador ordered that the DEA be closed down, accusing Reta of refusing to rendering services, which allegation Reta branded as “hilarious… simply absurd and fabricated.”
“Plain common sense dictates that I cannot simply refuse to render such kind of service for otherwise I will lose an opportunity to earn income,” he said in his complaint.
Reta later charged that the move to stop DEA operations inside his container yard resulted from his having reported several questionable activities at the port to Castigador and his predecessor, former Davao customs collector Ronnie Silvestre.
As a result of the cases that Reta filed against Castigador and other officials of the agency, the RTC, through Omelio issued a ruling on April 19 ordering the resumption of operations of the DEA until such time when the case on the issue are resolved. The Court of Appeals sustained the order of the RTC. The same ruling was later upheld by the Supreme Court.
When Castigador defied the order, Reta petitioned that he be cited for contempt of court sand ordered arrested. Later, Judge Omelio issued the order citing Castigador in contempt of court and ordered him arrested.
Reta said Alvarez was already commissioner when the TRO was served but he had not obeyed the court order, hence the petition for indirect contempt against him.
