Duterte-Poe tandem unbeatable

Sen. Grace Poe should not listen to people prompting her to run for President because all they want is for their political party to hold on to power and not for the country’s welfare.

She may be intelligent, competent and honest but she lacks the experience in governance.

If Amazing Grace became President she would be surrounded by power-brokers, favor-seekers and people who pushed her to run.

Grace’s subordinates would be running circles around her.

She’s not ripe for the presidency yet, but she could run for Vice President.

As an understudy, she could learn the intricacies of running the national government.

If the elected president happens to be her running mate, she could be appointed secretary of the Department of Interior and Local Government where she would be exposed to governance practices.

My two cents worth of advice is for her to become the running mate of Davao City Mayor Rody Duterte.

A Duterte-Poe tandem would be unbeatable.

*                               *                       *

Customs Commissioner Bert Lina should investigate Customs Collector Lilibeth Mangsal of the Port of Surigao City for allegedly delaying the release of a ship, LCT Bulk Carrier M/V Century Summit 3, and its cargo.

If the lawyer of the company that owns the ship, Century Summit Carrier Inc., is to be believed, Mangsal’s reason for delaying the release of the shipment is personal.

The ship has been docked at the Surigao port since its arrival on August 13, 2014.

Lawyer Stephen Cascolan says in his complaint affidavit that Mangsal refuses to release the shipment because his client dumped the collector’s nephew as his broker in favor of another.

The lawyer says that before the ship arrived, Mangsal had advised his client to make the Surigao port the vessel’s port of entry, instead of Cebu.

According to Cascolan, the customs collector also advised his client to hire her nephew’s brokerage firm.

“Considering that the company’s affiliate has operations within her jurisdiction, we felt compelled to heed her advice,” the lawyer says.

When the shipment arrived, Mangsal’s nephew did not immediately attend to facilitating the processing of its papers, forcing the company to hire another brokerage firm, claimed Cascolan.

The hiring of another broker instead of Mangsal’s nephew must have angered the customs collector, resulting in the long delay in the release of the ship and its cargo, he added.

If Cascolan is telling the truth, Mangsal is liable under the graft and corrupt practices law.