The appointment of a Customs official who was accused of receiving bribes is again obscuring the sincerity of the Duterte administration in initiating reforms at the Bureau of Customs (BOC), Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan said on Thursday.
Pangilinan was referring to former Customs district collector Vincent Philip Maronilla, who was previously tagged by Customs fixer Mark Taguba as among those who allegedly received bribes to facilitate his shipment.
Maronilla was appointed by President Rodrigo Duterte as assistant commissioner of the BOC last Tuesday.
READ: BOC official accused of accepting bribes named asst commissioner
Pangilinan said the allegations against Maronilla linking him to the smuggling of the P6.4 billion worth of shabu when he was Manila International Container Port district collector “should not have been just swept under the rug by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and should have been thoroughly investigated.”
READ: Broker accuses BOC execs of accepting bribes
“With an official with questionable integrity at the helm of the BOC, the public would find it hard to believe that the administration is out to purge corruption and clean the agency,” Pangilinan asserted. /kga