WHAT WENT BEFORE: Mission failed for ex-military men in gov’t?
President Rodrigo Duterte has appointed quite a number of ex-military officers to government posts after their stints in the Armed Forces only to remove some of them later due to alleged involvement in corruption, scandals or disputes.
On Friday, Alexander Balutan, a retired Marine major general, was sacked as general manager of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) for alleged corruption amid a congressional probe of anomalies in the state-run charity. He was appointed to the PCSO in September 2016.
Last October, Isidro Lapeña was removed as Bureau of Customs (BOC) commissioner after denying for weeks that two huge shipments of “shabu” (crystal meth) worth P11 billion had been smuggled through Manila International Container Terminal (MICT) last August.
A retired police general, Lapeña was later “promoted” director general of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, while Rey Leonardo Guerrero, a former chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, took over as BOC chief.
Last September, former Army Maj. Jason Aquino resigned as administrator of the National Food Authority (NFA) amid a dispute with Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco, a longtime associate of the President, over new rice importations, which the NFA chief had objected to.
In August 2017, former Marine Capt. Nicanor Faeldon resigned as BOC chief after P6.4 billion worth of shabu was smuggled into the country through the MICT.
Faeldon was later given the post of deputy administrator of the Office of Civil Defense, before being named Bureau of Corrections chief last November.
In November 2017, former AFP chief of staff Dionisio Santiago resigned as chair of the Dangerous Drugs Board on orders of the President, who was irked over his remarks that the government’s 10,000-bed drug rehabilitation facility in Nueva Ecija was “a mistake” because it was impractical. —Inquirer Research
Source: Inquirer Archives
