Biazon to meet with Aquino before deciding next move over ‘pork’ case

President Benigno Aquino III and Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon. INQUIRER/INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTOS

MANILA, Philippines — Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon’s fate rests in the hands of his big boss, President Benigno Aquino III.

This was indicated on Sunday by the former Muntinlupa City legislator himself as he brushed aside calls by some sectors for his resignation for his alleged involvement in the multibillion-peso pork barrel scam.

Biazon, in a text message to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, said he would address these calls only after his meeting with the President at Malacañang.

He did not say when, but he disclosed he had “requested for a meeting with the President to convey with him my position on the matter.”

“I will give a comment on the Palace statement after my meeting with the President,” he said.

On Saturday, Secretary Herminio Coloma, chief of the Presidential Communications Operations Office, told reporters it would be up to Biazon to go on leave or quit out of delicadeza.

“Iyong delicadeza po kasi ay individual na decision (Delicadeza is an individual decision),” he noted.

According to Coloma, Aquino had plans to talk to the BOC head about the issue. However, he said he had no information if the Customs top official was on his way out.

He pointed out “for everyone serving the Cabinet and the government who are presidential appointees, the principle is always that everyone serves at the pleasure of the President.”

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima earlier said the Department of Justice would stick to the administration’s goal of exacting accountability from officials who misused their pork barrel allocations, regardless of their political affiliation.

In July, Biazon offered his resignation shortly after Aquino criticized the Bureau of Customs and two other agencies – Bureau of Immigration and the National Irrigation Administration – for corruption and incompetence in his State of the Nation Address.

But the President asked him to stay put, assuring him of his continued confidence in him.

Last Friday, Biazon denied that he had misused his Priority Development Assistance Fund when he was a congressman, saying he had pursued projects and programs that benefited his constituents in the southern Metro Manila city. But he acknowledged that the system or process might have been weak and could easily be abused.

In a statement, he said he had “always exercised prudence and fidelity in the performance of my duty as representative of Muntinlupa, as well as in other responsibilities to the public and pursued projects and programs that benefited by constituents.”

“But as we have seen in some instances, the processes involved have been vulnerable to abuse by certain parties,” he said.

Biazon, the first close ally of the President to be dragged into the pork barrel controversy, was one of 34 personalities, including some other former legislators, who were recommended for prosecution by the National Bureau of Investigation for the alleged misuse of the PDAF.

He welcomed the “opportunity to clarify and answer the accusations, whether before the NBI, the Office of the Ombudsman or the courts.”

On Sunday, he reiterated he would be “willing and ready” to face the allegations raised against him.

Sometime in April, Biazon also became a magnet of controversy following revelations of widespread oil smuggling in the economic zones and major ports in the country.

Contacted in Panama City, where he was attending a World Customs Organization meeting, he said the problem of oil smuggling was “not one that just cropped up during my tenure as BOC commissioner.”

“It is a problem that hounds every Customs administration, not just in the Philippines but around the world. Even the most technologically advanced Customs units face the same problem. The only difference is the magnitude of the problem and the dynamics of the system prevailing in each country,” he explained.

Biazon has repeatedly said the Department of Finance-attached agency’s campaign against all forms of smuggling is a “work in progress.”

“It’s true that smuggling is still one of the biggest problems facing the Bureau of Customs. However, it is not true that we’re not addressing the problem,” he added.

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