The Bureau of Customs (BOC) will file a complaint with the National Police Commission against members of the Philippine National Police-Highway Patrol Group (PNP-HPG) who allegedly accosted customs personnel destroying smuggled cigarettes seized in operations.
‘If our personnel are in the wrong, then we will find out,’ Customs Commissioner Ariel Nepomuceno said on Monday. BOC personnel said they were overseeing the destruction of seized smuggled cigarettes at a condemnation facility in Bulacan on Aug. 19, when HPG members barged in and frisked them.
Nepomuceno vouched for his men, saying they were covered by a mission order signed by him and were just doing their job. The 13 PNP-HPG officers implicated in the incident have since been relieved pending an investigation.