RECYCLING MONUMENTAL MEDIOCRITY
FILIPINOS, by and large, respect the presidential prerogatives on executive appointments. In the case of Mr. Duterte, he should, by the operations of law and practice, get the men and women he trusts, the men and women vested— according to his judgment and benchmarks— with probity and competence. And the Commission on Appointments, with almost no - ecutive choices of the President.
Ms Lopez, Mr. Mariano and Ms Taguiwalo were all rejected by the bicameral CA because Mr. Duterte did not push hard enough for their confirmation. No president in contemporary history has abandoned key cabinet choices during the crucial stage of CA deliberations. Not one. Still, that was the President’s choice and nobody entered into an argument with the President.
When Mr. Duterte tells an appointee “you’re fired,” the public generally supports such move. In line, again, with the vast presidential prerogative on executive appointments. The men and women serving the President must be men and women viewed in the best light by the President.
When the President says a particular appointee is corrupt, lazy, compromised or incompetent, the public says amen. That public support extends to “resigned” appointees such as the resigned DICT head , who was later accused by Mr. Duterte of “bias.” Even in the case of Mr. Salalima, who used to be the head lawyer of a telco, no one questioned the decision of Mr. Duterte.
When does the public say “wait a minute”? What presidential decisions arouse public suspicion and non- support?
Recycling former officials who had resigned under very questionable circumstances. Like the case of resigned Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon and the assistants Mr. Faeldon named to sensitive posts at the customs bureau. Faeldon has been named deputy administrator III at the Office of Civil Defense, one of the agencies under the Department of National Defense.
What is wrong with that recycling exercise? All of it.
Under Mr. Faeldon’s watch at the Bureau of Customs, a P6.4billion shabu shipment slipped out of the Port of Manila into a warehouse in the suburbs. The facts surrounding the case said it was not a mere case of bureaucratic failure, the failure of the customs systems to detect a toxic, multi- billion cargo. It was a clear case of a conspiracy to clear a really big shabu shipment valued at P6.4 billion.
The shipment had many red flags. But because it was smuggling done by a syndicate, it went directly to the express lane for clearing with an eagle- eyed customs broker acting as facilitator and fixer. Mark Taguba, the customs broker, later told a tangled story of bribes and political connections at a Senate inquiry, where he also dragged down a so- called Davao Group allegedly involved in large- scale smuggling at the waterfront .
The red flags were ignored, the “fixers” got the shabu shipment out without hassle.
According to Senate sources, that was probably just one of those shabu shipments under the watch of Mr. Faeldon.
It is logical to conflate the P6.4 billion shabu shipment with the centerpiece program of Mr. Duterte and from there magnify the scale and scope of Mr. Faeldon’s failings at the BoC. Mr. Duterte’s centerpiece agenda is the war on drugs. The sustained shipment of shabu