A Davao-based customs broker has filed libel, grave misconduct and abuse of authority charges against Customs Commissioner Angelito Alvarez and Deputy Commissioner Gregorio Chavez in connection with the P5-billion smuggling complaint against him and Phoenix Petroleum Philippines Inc. by the Bureau of Customs.

Jorlan Cabanes filed the charges before the Justice Department on grounds that Alvarez and Chavez violated their “own rules and regulations” when they accused him and Phoenix of allegations he described as “utterly ridiculous, untrue and baseless.”

“(Alvarez and Chavez) should be held criminally and administratively liable for their actions. Simply put, we do not need nor should we have such oppressive and irresponsible people occupying such high government positions,” Cabanes said in a six-page complaint affidavit.

Cabanes is a licensed customs broker employed by Seadove Maritime Services Inc., whose clients include Phoenix, a company engaged in trading refined petroleum products, lubricants and other chemical products.

Last week, the BoC filed with the Department of Justice a smuggling case against Phoenix stemming from its alleged “non-payment of excise and value-added taxes, non-submission of import documents such as invoices and bills of lading.”

The case was based on the report of the BoC’s Run-After-the-Smuggler (RATS) Group headed by Chavez.

According to the BoC, Phoenix smuggled oil products from Thailand with a combined dutiable value of P5.14 billion from June 2010 to April this year. Cabanes was also named respondent to the BoC complaint.

Contrary to BoC’s claim, Cabanes said the importations made by the independent oil player during the period stated were “duly documented and the duties and taxes thereon paid by Phoenix.”

Worse, Cabanes said the filing of criminal charges against him and Phoenix was in blatant violation of the BoC’s own rules and regulations, particularly Customs Memorandum Order No. 16-10, which gives an importer suspected to have misdeclared the value of his imports the chance to explain.

“Considering that, as cited above, it is mandatory for the BoC to communicate with the importer, the publication of the announcement on the BoC website and, assuming that there was indeed a case filed, the filing of criminal charges against Phoenix and me without any prior notice of any discrepancy as required by the BoC’s own rules and regulations clearly amounts to grave misconduct and a grave injustice not to mention a blatant violation of my constitutional right to due process,” Cabanes said.