The Department of Finance (DoF) yesterday appealed to the Office of the Ombudsman to speed up the resolution of the graft and corruption charges filed against three officials of the Bureau of Customs (BoC) in connection with an incident last February  involving the interception of smuggled high-end electronic gadgets.
Charged were Eric Albano, intelligence officer 4; Jover Jordan, clerk; Mitchell Verdeflor, intelligence officer 1, and several John Does.
In a 19-page complaint affidavit, the respondents were indicted for violating the Republic Act 3019 otherwise known as the  Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act at the Office of the Ombudsman on Dec. 7, 2010.
The case was filed at the office of lawyer Julita Caldero, Graft Investigation and Prosecution by complainants identified as Oscar Moratin and Crispin Velarde, both intelligence officers of the  DoF- Revenue Integrity  Protection Service (DoF-RIPS).
It can be recalled that the three  Customs officials and other John Does were accused of putting on hold the high-end electronic gadgets that were legally shipped to the country sometime in February 2010.
On Feb. 6, 2010, the electronic product shipment which came  from Singapore arrived in Port of Manila. The shipment passed through the X-ray machines and a BoC examiner, in the findings, did not see anything irregular regarding the entry of the shipment.
Despite the fact that the shipment entered the country legally, the said items were seized by respondents.
Acting on the reports of the respondents, former BoC Deputy Commissioner Jairus Paguntalan issued the hold order on the shipment last Feb. 10,  2010.
The DoF-RIPS immediately conducted an investigation on the incident to determine the possible liability of the respondents.
The inviestigation team found Albano; Jordan; Verdeflor and other  BoC employees of allegedly violating the laws.
The respondents were also found violating the Custom Memorandum Order that led to the filing of administrative cases.