Phenomenal fiscal growth of Customs officer

By Vijay Kumar

When she joined the Customs in 1990, she had assets worth 2,61,000. Today it is around 20 Millions, despite the fact that her annual salary is around 250000. She has a Mitsubishi Lancer sedan worth P550,000, a Toyota Innova van, a Mitsubishi Adventure, a Hyundai Starex, an Isuzu Crosswind, a Nissan Frontier pickup, an Isuzu Hi-Lander, a Suzuki Carry and a Honda motorcycle besides a resort in Quezon. She had traveled abroad sixteen times with her husband. This is the story of the wealth of the chief of the Bureau of Customs at the Manila International Container Port as revealed by the Revenue Integrity Protection Service (RIPS). The complaint against her says,

"Her brazen accumulation of wealth in the aggregate amount of P20,000,000, more or less, is clearly disproportionate to her means, is further underscored by the fact that she did not even include her ordinary family expenditures — including tuition fees of her four children — which judging by her standard of living, could not be less than substantial. Stated otherwise, and assuming that ordinary family expenses usually account for 60 percent of earnings, she would have precious little money, if any, to put away, let alone to spend on luxurious foreign travels, expensive vehicles and real estate investments,".