Finally, someone came right out and said it.
“On Thursday, Feb 6, Bureau of Customs (BoC) Commissioner John Philip Sevilla urged the Department of Justice and judicial courts to expedite the resolution of cases involving rice smuggling and not just focus most of their attention to the case of comedian Vhong Navarro who was mauled allegedly for tying to rape a model named Deniece Cornejo,” reports Manila Bulletin Online.
According to the report, the BoC had filed smuggling cases against the San Carlos Cooperative for illegal importation of rice. All in all, there are at least 157 cases of smuggling presently being heard by different courts, none of which ended in conviction.
This was probably why Sevilla stated, “To the Department of Justice and to the courts, ang appeal po namin ay aksyunan [na ninyo] sa lalong medaling panahon. Hindi lang po si Vhong Navarro ang nangangailangan ng katarungan. Ang magsasaka ng Pilipinas ay nangangailangan din ng katarungan (To the Department of Justice and to the courts, please take action on our appeal as soon as possible. It’s not just Vhong Navarro who seeks justice. The farmers of the Philippines also demand justice).”
