Coming soon: Public scolding of customs execs

The next batch of government officials President Noy will berate in public—after the public scolding of National Irrigation Administration chief Antonio Nangel and his subordinates— are those working at the Bureau of Customs.

I got the information from a little bird in Malacañang.

The President will scold customs officials—probably single out Commissioner Ruffy Biazon like he did Nangel—for the poor revenue collection and unabated smuggling in various ports in the country.

The public scolding will take place during the State of the Nation Address (Sona) on July 22.

According to my source, the President instructed his speechwriters to include berating customs officials in his Sona draft.

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Vice President Jojo Binay “outperformed” Malacañang in the case of the recently executed Pinay drug mule by appealing to the media to keep her identity a secret.

The Palace sent its condolences and sympathy to the family of the woman. Hello, anybody home?

Why should we honor the condemned woman who brought shame to our country by giving her family privacy and condoling with them?

I know why Binay did that: He wants to win brownie points among the ranks of the poor.

We’re still a long way from the presidential elections, Sir!

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I know for a fact that many suspected drug pushers in Makati City were summarily executed by an unknown vigilante group when Jojo Binay was still its mayor.

What’s the difference between those Makati drug pushers and the drug mule who was executed in China?

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Jeez, that woman was not even an overseas Filipino contract worker as some have claimed!

She was poor, all right, but she was not engaged in honest labor like the millions of our compatriots toiling in foreign lands.

She smuggled heroin into China 18 times and was caught on the 18th time. She destroyed countless lives in China before she was caught.

And yet, the government treats her like a hero!

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National Museum Director Jeremy Barns wrote to the Inquirer opinion page on Friday that I made “baseless and preposterous allegations” against him and his cohorts on the misuse of the Museum Endowment Fund.

Barns and his accomplices withdrew P306.9 million from the fund in the Land Bank, the official depository of government funds, and deposited it in two private banks.

How could Barns claim that my allegations are baseless and preposterous when, indeed, the illegal deposit was made?

In a meeting with officials of the Commission on Audit, Barns practically knelt before them and admitted that he arbitrarily invested the money, according to my sources at the National Museum.

But COA officials said even if he returned the money he could still be liable for plunder.

Returning stolen money doesn’t extinguish the crime of theft.

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Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala has kept his promise that the country would be exporting rice this year.

On July 26, aromatic rice weighing 19 tons will be exported to Malaysia by the Vegetables Importers, Exporters and Vendors Association of the Philippines (Vieva).

The aromatic rice was harvested in Nueva Ecija province.

On May 9, Vieva exported 14,233 kilograms of black premium rice and 19 tons of Japonica rice to Dubai.

Exporting Philippine rice is a first, since the time of President Marcos.

Alcala is in Japan looking into the possibility of exporting our vegetables to that country.