MANILA, Philippines – A mid-level official in the Bureau of Customs was accused before the office of the Ombudsman of allegedly amassing unexplained wealth on an annual salary equivalent to only about $5,000.
The complaint was filed against Visitacion B. Difuntorum, an operations officer of the customs bureau, by the Revenue Integrity Protection Service (Rips) of the Department of Finance.
Rips is a special team created to conduct a lifestyle check on officials and employees of the Bureau of Customs and the Bureau of Internal Revenue, both under the finance department and which have been widely perceived by most Filipinos to be the most corrupt and graft-ridden government agencies, along with the Department of Public Works and Highways and the Philippine National Police.
In the charge sheet, Difuntorum was alleged to have amassed unexplained wealth worth more than $1 million which, Rips said, was tantamount to the crime of plunder
Under the law, plunder is committed with the accumulation of illegal wealth by civil servants, totaling at least $1 million and up. It is a non-bailable offense which carries the maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
According to Rips, Difuntorum, who has been with the customs bureau for 38 years, was discovered after a thorough lifestyle check to have allegedly enriched herself illegally while in office.
Rips added that the woman official accumulated properties “despite her humble pretension” that her net worth in her statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (Saln) she had submitted in 2006 was only less than $1,500.
These include, the complaint said, 13 parcels of land in suburban Quezon City, Metro Manila and Northern Samar province in the Visayas with a total area of six hectares; two sport utility vehicles and two sedans; three upscale houses; a hotel and restaurant; and a luxury resort.
“Through the years, she (Difuntorum) has made perjurious, false, misleading, incomplete and untruthful statements in her Saln in order to conceal and shield her unexplained wealth from unwelcome public attention and scrutiny,” Rips pointed out in its complaint to the Ombudsman.
Aside from the properties registered in her name, Rips said Difuntorum also allegedly concealed her ownership of other properties, including other parcels of land and late-model vehicles.
One of these properties, Rips said, is a three-storey hotel and restaurant in the capital town of Catarman, Northern Samar that does not appear in Difuntorum’s Saln.
It added it also received tips that the customs official owned other vehicles which were registered in the name of different relatives, including a BMW, a Toyota Prado, Toyota Vios and Ford Escort.
In the complaint, Rips urged the Ombudsman to file criminal charges against Difuntorum before the Sandiganbayan anti-graft court in addition to administrative cases.
It also asked the Ombudsman to suspend Difuntorum as well as order the confiscation of her alleged unexplained wealth in favor of the government.
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