TACLOBAN CITY –Senator Grace Poe was surprised by the sudden appointment of former Customs commissioner Isidro Lapeña to the Technical Education Skills Development Authority (Tesda).
Poe said Lapeña may not have the needed knowledge or expertise to head Tesda – the new post given to by him by President Rodrigo Duterte after removing him from the Bureau of Customs in the wake of the controversy on the smuggling of P11 billion worth of shabu from the Manila International Container Port (MICP)
“Di ko maintindihan yun. Maaaring di talaga alam ni Mr. Lapeña ang nangyayari sa baba pero siyempre may command responsibility. Ngayon, nagulat lang ako. Ang bilis ng balasahan. Nakakagulat lang (I don’t understand. It could be that Mr. Lapeña didn’t know what was happening below but there must be command responsibility. Now, I am surprised. The reshuffle was so sudden. It was surprising),”Poe said on Friday.
Poe was in the city together with Sen. Sonny Angara to attend the 10th Oktubafest event organized by the An Waray party-list group which highlights Eastern Visayas local wine tuba.
Poe said the President could have removed Lapeña as Customs chief due to his frustration and wanted somebody who was more competent “in terms of investigating these things or arresting these things.”
Lapeña was replaced by Rey Leonardo Guerrero, former administrator of the Maritime Authority Administration (Marina).
Poe said that while Lapeña was presumed innocent pending investigation on why four magnetic lifters said to have contained the smuggled shabu were not intercepted by the BoC. /muf