IN THE KNOW: Duterte on military takeover of BOC

Oct. 25 In a speech at the 117th anniversary of the Philippine Coast Guard: “I am ordering the freezing of all, all section department units of the Bureau of Customs out.

“General Lapeña will move to Tesda. I will promote you to a Cabinet member position. General Jagger Guerrero you are to move to the Bureau of Customs.”

Oct. 28 In a speech at the birthday party of former Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano: “I’d like to put on notice everybody at the Bureau of Customs, they are all on floating status.

“Customs police are also on floating status, everybody. The Customs Intelligence Unit, they are to report to Malacañang, all of them. I am ordering everybody to report to my office. Maybe I’ll issue the memorandum.

“They will be replaced all — 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.

“Remember that I have issued during the first days of my term, this is the declaration of lawlessness. Part of the lawless elements are there inside the Bureau of Customs.”

Oct. 31 In a speech during the distribution of certificates of land ownership award in Cagayan de Oro City: “I told the chief of staff of the Army to open everything and to throw it in the sea if they’re not contented just to avoid any more issues. Tell them we’ll pay them tomorrow. Why should we take that risk? So the best thing to do here is to buy another X-ray machine to be able to thoroughly inspect the 7,000 containers.

“But I said do it randomly or forcibly open everything. They will really do it. You know, that’s why I like military men.” —Inquirer Research

Source: Inquirer Archives, pcoo.gov.ph