Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV (File photo by BULLIT MARQUEZ / AP)
Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV said on Wednesday that the military takeover of the Bureau of Customs would not work as military personnel were not trained to deal with customs duties.
Reacting to President Rodrigo Duterte’s order to temporarily put the BOC under military control, Trillanes said that the “endemic corruption” at the BOC might spread to the military as they were not meant to handle customs duties.
“The AFP is an organization that is trained primarily to deal with national security threats and not to collect customs duties. This will not work. Worse, the endemic corruption at the BOC might even contaminate the AFP,” Trillanes said in a statement.
The BOC has been under fire due to the alleged smuggling of P11 billion worth of “shabu,” or crystal meth, that supposedly slipped through security screening.
The senator said that the President’s decision to place the BOC under military control was meant to cover up the chief executive’s complicity or incompetence in resolving the alleged P11-billion shabu smuggling.
“This is a dangerous proposition that is meant to cover up Duterte’s complicity or incompetence in the P11 billion shabu controversy,” Trillanes said.
“It is also meant to project his supposed seriousness in dealing with the problem,” he added. “But the fact remains that those responsible for letting these shabu shipments pass are not being prosecuted.”
The senator proposed alternatives solutions to address the “endemic” corruption in the BOC, including lifestyle checks on BOC personnel, reviving the private preshipment inspection services, and increasing incentives for BOC personnel, among others.
Trillanes also said that the government should proecute the drug lords and customs officials responsible for the shabu smuggling, including both former BOC chiefs Isidro Lapeña and Nicanor Faeldon.
The President temporarily placed the BOC under military control last Sunday due to unmitigated corruption at the agency. /atm