Cebu Customs District Collector Alexandra Yap-Lumontad
has been charged before the Office of the Ombudsman for
permitting irregularities within cigarette manufacturing
operations at the Mactan Export Processing Zone(MEPZ)
specifically in the unauthorized use or forgery of official
seals, stamps, and signatures on clearance documents.
In a document furnished to Waterfront News, BOC
Cebu Stakeholder alleged that Lumontad allowed the use of
falsified/ forged official seals or stamps on clearance documents
for cigarette products.
“The falsification of commercial documents used in
trade within the economic zone. Facilitation of trade operations
despite the presence of manufactured “spurious” or forged tax/
customs stamps,” the complaint said.
For allowing the release of goods despite knowledge
of falsified documentation would constitute violations of Article
2126 of the Civil Code.
Secondly, there is civil liability for damages caused to
the National Treasury and third, there is grave misconduct and
conduct prejudicial to the Best Interest of the Service.
The complaint suggested that Lumontad has violated
the Revised Penal Code (RPC) and the Customs Modernization
and Tariff Act(CMTA).
In the RVP, the complaint cited Article 161(Forgery of
the Seal of the Government)- forging the great seal of the
Government or the signature/ stamp of the Chief Executive
