Senate, House leaders urge Sevilla to spill beans

Senate President Franklin Drilon supports a proposed Senate investigation into the resignation of John Philip Sevilla as Customs commissioner due to political pressure.

Drilon, who said he has known Sevilla a long time, added he was saddened by the resignation from the Bureau of Customs (BOC) of a man he described as an “honest bureaucrat” and “very professional.”

“I agree that he should reveal who was pressuring him. I will support the proposed resolution of Senator [Aquilino] Pimentel III,” he said in a radio interview.

Pimentel earlier said that if Sevilla would not reveal more details about the political pressure applied on him, he would initiate a Senate inquiry into the matter to learn how the BOC’s operations could be connected to election preparations.

For his part, House Deputy Speaker Giorgidi Aggabao said Sevilla should unmask the “culprits” who pressured him to resign.

“I think Commissioner Sevilla should point to the culprits and evince proof that he was being pressured,” Aggabao said.

The Isabela representative said Sevilla’s general remarks about “political pressures” were a disservice to President Aquino and the Liberal Party (LP), who stood to bear the brunt of criticisms.

“Pure allegations would not be fair to the President and his party,” Aggabao, who belongs to the Nationalist People’s Coalition, said.

He conceded, however, that Sevilla’s allegations were serious and should be looked into.

“The allegations are serious, to be sure. Let’s hope Commissioner Sevilla, a fairly decent man I was told, does the needful thing as a dutiful support for the agency he has served,” Aggabao said.

On Friday, the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) of Vice President Jejomar Binay charged that Sevilla’s exit had been orchestrated by the LP in order to turn the BOC into a cash cow and generate a P3-billion campaign kitty for the 2016 elections.

Drilon, the LP vice chair, brushed off the UNA claim, saying he “will not waste time on such malicious lies.”

He said those kinds of statements usually cropped up as election time drew near.

The LP is expected to field Interior Secretary Mar Roxas as its standard bearer in next year’s elections.

Roxas would be up against Binay, UNA’s candidate.

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