President Benigno Aquino III and Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon. INQUIRER/INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTOS
MANILA, Philippines – President Benigno Aquino III on Monday accepted Commissioner Ruffy Biazon’s resignation and gave him until the end of the week “to wind up his affairs in the Bureau of Customs.”
Aquino, in a statement released online, said he wished Biazon nothing “but the best as he returns to private life.”
“I thank him for his years of service to our administration and the nation,” the President added.
Aquino did not say if he wanted Biazon to resign but said the official met with him and explained “that it would be best to provide the Secretary of Finance the widest leverage and flexibility to steer the future direction of the Bureau of Customs, in light of the controversy brought about by Commissioner Biazon’s inclusion in the complaint of the National Bureau of Investigation before the Ombudsman.”
“Commissioner Biazon believes that the proper thing to do is to defend himself without compromising his past record, or the ongoing reforms in the Bureau,” Aquino said.
The resignation came after Biazon was included in the latest list of 34 people charged with graft for funneling Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) to bogus non-government organizations linked to Janet Lim-Napoles.
Biazon, a member of the ruling Liberal Party, is said to be the first Aquino ally dragged into the ongoing investigation of former and incumbent lawmakers tagged in the “pork barrel scam.”
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