PACC probes jewelry smugglers in NAIA as terrorist financiers

THE PHILIPPINE Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) is looking into the possibility that two jewelry smugglers operating at terminal three of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) are funding terrorist organizations, according to PACC Commissioner Greco B. Belgica. Two people, identified by Mr. Belgica as the “Mimbalawang” couple, were recently apprehended by authorities for smuggling pieces of gold jewelry weighing 1.9 kilograms and worth about P6-million. The two are allegedly part of an organized crime syndicate composed of eight independent groups of jewelry smugglers operating at the airport with collaborators from government. “The fund raising activity was for illegal activities. They are part of a group that raises funds for certain groups. They could be terrorists, they could be insurgents,” Mr. Belgica said. The couple are the parents of the daughter-in-law of recently resigned Justice Assistant Secretary Moslemen T. Macarambon Sr., who was accused of being a co-conspirator in one of their smuggling operations. — Dane Angelo M. Enerio