Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said Wednesday that he was not consulted by President Rodrigo Duterte on his decision to place the Bureau of Customs under military control.
“No. Wala. It’s just the decision of the President,” he told reporters when asked if the President talked to him before the announcement over the weekend.
But he said it was the President who was best to determine if the military presence was needed at the Customs.
“I think it is the President who can determine that,” Lorenzana said. “Mas marami siyang alam dyan sa Customs na information. Ako kasi di naman nangingialam sa Customs (He had ample information on the Bureau of Customs. I am not really involved there). Maybe he thinks that there’s a need to inject [the] military.”
On Sunday, the President announced his decision to put Customs under the temporary control of the military after reports of illegal drugs worth billions of pesos had slipped into the country.
READ: Duterte puts Customs under military control
But the legality of his order was challenged by lawmakers who argued that the military takeover of a civilian agency was unconstitutional.
READ: Senators question legality of putting BOC under military control
“It will not be forever, temporary lang yan (It’s only temporary),” Lorenzana said.
He added that they would not deploy a battalion of troops in the agency amid criticisms that the military was already overstretched.
“It will be selected people to damage control some aspects of the bureau, hindi naman buong bureau (not the whole bureau). Yung nakikita namin (What we are seeing) is just a certain of the function of the bureaus and not the entire bureau. Hindi naman militarized yun eh (It’s not militarized),” Lorenzana said. /ee/ac