Pangilinan doubts legality of military control of Customs

Sen. Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan. INQUIRER file photo

Opposition Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan questioned on Monday the legality of President Rodrigo Duterte’s decision to place the Bureau of Customs (BoC) under military control.

“Aside from the fact that placing a revenue-generating agency under the AFP is of doubtful legality, regardless of who manages the Bureau of Customs, if Malacañang itself tolerates and does not punish Faeldon and Lapeña and doesn’t show any teeth and outrage against big-time shabu smugglers and drug lords, nothing will come of AFP’s transfer because it will only follow Malacañang’s orders,” Pangilinan, who is also a lawyer, said in a text message.

READ: Duterte puts Customs under military control

He was referring to former Customs chiefs Isidro Lapeña and Nicanor Faeldon, who were both hounded by controversies when they were at the helm of the BoC.

It was during Faeldon’s time when the P6.4 billion worth of shabu slipped past through the country while the alleged P11 billion-worth of shabu reportedly managed to enter the country under Lapeña’s watch.

Faeldon resigned from his post at the height of the P6.4 bill shabu shipment scandal and was later appointed as deputy administrator III at the Office of Civil Defense (OCD), and is now the head of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor).

Lapeña, on the other hand, was transferred to the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.

Lapeña ordered the investigation that led to the discovery of a drug smuggling syndicate at the Customs. Members of the syndicate, who reportedly included ranking officers in the police and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, are now part of a new drug matrix released by Duterte.

“The solution is not in the transfer of any agency but in showing that incompetent officials and the syndicates they are in connivance with, all big fish, are punished and held to account,” Pangilinan added.

On Sunday, Duterte said the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) would temporarily run the operations at the BoC as he put all its officials on floating status.

The President blasted the Customs as deeply corrupt as he defended Faeldon and Lapena as men of integrity.

READ: Duterte says Lapeña man of integrity; hits deeply corrupt Customs

“They 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 said in a speech in Davao City. /cbb