CUSTOMS TO BE PUT UNDER MILITARY RULE

In a bid to resolve corruption issues within BOS, the President is planning to implement this strategy

Manila – President Rodrigo Duterte has put the corruption-plagued Bureau of Customs temporarily under military control amid the scandal of two huge shipments of illegal drugs that reportedly slipped past through the port of Manila.

“They (Customs personnel) will be replaced, all of them, by military men. It will be a takeover of the Armed Forces in the matter of operating in the meantime, while we are sorting out how to effectively meet the challenges of corruption in this country,” Duterte Sunday, October 28.

Last week, Duterte replaced former Customs chief Isidro Lapeña with former military chief Rey Leonardo Guerrero.

Duterte said he was forced to take drastic move amid the “dirty games” being played at the BOC.

After placing BOC personnel under “floating status,” Duterte reiterated his directive to Guerrero, who served as Maritime Industry Authority prior to his new appointment, to deploy some soldiers with technical expertise to the Customs bureau.

“There was really a continuous play of corruption in the lower echelons of the Customs bureau. You put any other pati ako (even me), and even if I will be there at the helm of the Bureau of Customs, papalusutan, lusot talaga ‘yan (smuggled products will really slip past). They will undercut you because of money),” he added.

Lapeña was removed as Customs Commissioner after he was heavily criticized over the multibillion-peso worth of smuggled shabu that slipped past into the country’s ports.

Lapeña’s predecessor, Nicanor Faeldon, was also reassigned as the new director of the Bureau of Corrections, following the illegal entry of P6.4-billion worth of shabu that were smuggled in May 2017.

Lapeña and Faeldon are also former uniformed men who are currently occupying civilian posts in the Duterte administration.

Duterte defended both Lapeña and Faeldon, maintaining that the lower-ranking officials of the BOC are to blame over the continuing irregularities in the bureau.