PASG foils smuggle
of peso coins to Korea

THE Presidential Anti Smuggling Group (PASG) on Thursday seized a 40-foot container van containing 17 tons of Philippine peso coins amounting to P300 million bound for Pusan, Korea.

Undersecretary Antonio Villar Jr., PASG head, said the van was intercepted at the Asian Terminal Inc. (ATI) at the Port of Manila. He said the shipment had been declared as scrap metal and was consigned to Amphibian Metals.

He said charges of economic sabotage in violation of Article 164 (mutilation of coins) and Article 165 (illegal selling of Philippine coins), and technical smuggling under the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines would be slapped against the company.

Villar said that the peso coins being smuggled out are made up of 75 percent copper and 25 percent nickel for the P1 variety while the P10 peso coin contains 92 percent copper and 6 percent aluminum. A five peso coin is 70 percent copper, 24.5 percent zinc and 5.5 percent nickel.

In a separate development, Villar yesterday ordered all his men to stand down immediately and report back to their main office pending investigation by the police on the mauling incident in the Dusit Thani Hotel in Makati and the gun-poking incident against a parking attendant in Quezon City.

Villar said there will be no movements and operations involving PASG personnel without his approval so that the PASG can account for its people and can appear immediately before any investigation by authorities. He also warned his men to avoid drinking liquor in public places and reminded them that only smugglers are their enemies and not civilians.

An official of PASG present during the meeting said Villar was so infuriated by the involvement of several of his men in two well-publicized incidents. He has suspended his security personnel in the hotel incident while the staff involved in the gun-poking incident, Marino Piramo, was immediately fired.

Villar’s legal counsel Virgilio Bruno said the PASG chief is ready to cooperate "in any way he can" with the police in the probe. On Wednesday, Villar’s bodyguards did not show up at the Makati police station where two security guards at the Dusit hotel were supposed to identify those involved in the mauling last week of businessman Simon Paz, owner of Leonel Waste Disposal.

Makati chief of police, Supt. Gilbert Cruz said Bruno told him that the PASG chief is encouraging Paz to file a case against his security personnel but Paz’s family has not coordinated with the police so far, the victim himself remains in intensive care, and was even reported to be suffering from temporary amnesia.