Presidential spokesperson Atty. Salvador Panelo
INQUIRER PHOTO/LYN RILLON
Soldiers who will be asked to guard the operations of the Bureau of Customs (BoC) will not be given appointments or designations, Malacañang said on Tuesday.
Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo made the clarification after critics claimed that President Duterte’s order to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to man the corruption-ridden bureau would violate the Constitution.
“The President is not appointing or designating any member of the Armed Forces,” Panelo said in a Palace briefing.
“These people will be there first to make their presence felt and hopefully intimidate those corrupt people there,” he added.
Panelo claimed that there will be no takeover that will happen soon but he insisted that “if it comes to a point that it is needed, the Constitution allows it.”
Panelo, who is also Duterte’s chief legal counsel, said that the Constitutional provision prohibiting the appointment of a member of the armed forces to a civilian position in the government should not take precedence to the provision which states that the “prime duty of the Government is to serve and protect the people.”
“You cannot let, or you cannot let this President hostage to a particular provision without relating to previous provisions that grant him the authority as well as the obligation and the duty to serve and to protect this nation,” Panelo said. /je
READ: Military takeover of Customs is constitutional – Panelo