DTI exec placed on ‘floating status’

A case filed with the Ombudsman has prompted the transfer of Trade Undersecretary Ruth Castelo from the Consumer Protection Group to the Office of the Secretary, resulting in her being on "floating status," a source at the Department of Trade and Industry, or DTI, said Saturday.

"Castelo was reassigned to the OSEC. In the meantime, the informant told Daily Tribune, " Assistant Secretary Jean Pacheco was designated OIC (officer in charge) of the CPG so as not to impede its operations," the informant told Daily Tribune.

Castelo's reassignment stemmed from a case that was filed against her and other high-ranking officials of the DTI, the source said, "as Secretary Alfredo Pascual does not want to be accused of not playing fair by any party."

"If Usec. Ruth stays with the CPG, there might be allegations of unduly influencing or manipulating certain documents included in the complaint. The secretary wanted to be impartial and fair," according to the source.

She said Castelo remains an undersecretary but does not have any portfolio.

Steelmaker filed case

Last month, Castelo, along with DTI-Bureau of Philippine Standards Director Neil Catajay, DTI-BPS officer-in-charge Ferdinand Manfoste, DTI-BPS Enforcement Team chief Engineer John Steven Magboo, staffers Sarah Jane Arella, Alyssa Marie Frayre and Phillip Sawali, and five members of the DTI-FTEB Enforcement Team were sued before the Office of the Ombudsman-Mindanao by Davao TYT Lucky Steel Corp., represented by its president and manager Jennifer "Wingki" Qua.

They were accused of violating Section 3(e) of Republic Act 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, as well as of grave misconduct, serious dishonesty, grave abuse of authority, and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service.

The complaint stemmed from Sawali's alleged order, approved by Castelo on 9 June, authorizing a raid on Davao TYT Lucky Steel Corp. last 22 June.

The DTI team stormed the company's warehouse in Barangay San Isidro, Bunawan District, Davao City, and seized 176,497 pieces of Lucky Fence Tube that the company had imported.

The raid was questioned by Qua in a letter to Secretary Pascual on 23 June that stated that there was no deception in connection with the presence of threads on the ends of Lucky Fence Tubes.

"Presently, there is no applicable standard for fence tubes. PNS 2145:2000 is not yet in effect, and its implementation is scheduled for July 2024. Therefore, until this standard comes into force, there can be no violation of selling tubes with threads. Due to these reasons, the monitoring and enforcement actions undertaken by Castelo and her raiding team were downright illegal," Qua said in her letter to Pascual.