Alvarez: I’ve heard of ‘Friday habit’ but…

Customs Commissioner Angelito Alvarez. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Had he been given a chance to stay longer at the post, the so-called “Friday habit” at the Bureau of Customs would have been transformed into something wholesome involving sporting activities, dancing, drinking and motivational talks, according to outgoing Customs Commissioner Angelito Alvarez.

According to Alvarez, before he even joined the bureau he had been hearing talk about the Friday habit, in which corrupt customs officials and employees supposedly meet at the pier every Friday to collect their share of the bribes.

Which was why when he took over a little over a year ago, Alvarez said he had the bureau’s gym and social hall spruced up so that every Friday, employees would be occupied with “basketball and volleyball tournaments, social gatherings with a little dancing and drinking and by talks with motivational speakers.”

But he claimed not to have had an encounter with the Friday habit that Sen. Panfilo Lacson had raised on Tuesday.

Or perhaps the practice had evolved into a different “style” after he came in, Alvarez said.

On Monday, President Aquino confirmed that he had already chosen a new customs commissioner, cutting short Alvarez’s stint at the bureau.

There has been heavy speculation that Alvarez was on his way out after the controversy involving the smuggling into Mindanao of vehicles, including a Harley Davidson motorcycle stolen from a Hollywood scriptwriter, surfaced in May.

He was also accused by opposition legislators of tolerating or condoning the disappearance of 2,000 containers while in transit from the Port of Manila to Batangas.

Alvarez on Wednesday said he was ready to face an inquiry or any court case involving the missing containers, “but I hope they will [treat] me as a resource person and not as if I am the one accused.”

He said he had written a letter to President Aquino, although he had yet to send the letter.

In it, he said he told Mr. Aquino that he can prove that the charges against him were baseless and that during his tenure as customs commissioner, his hands “have never been sullied” and he has never been involved in any form of corruption.  With Gil C. Cabacungan and Christine Avendaño