Faeldon in fighting form vs foes: ‘Shame on you’

Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon (right) addresses questions from the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee during the hearing on the P6.4-billion worth of smuggled shabu from China on Monday, July 31, 2017. (FILE PHOTO by GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

Shame on you.

A fiercer Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon has this to say to government officials who make unreasonable requests to his office, including the promotion of some bureau employees.

“I am appealing to you. You know that your request is a form of corruption but you insist and magagalit pa kayo (you even get mad)… Shame on you. Stop it,” Faeldon said during a briefing in Manila Wednesday.

Faeldon, however, refused to identify the government officials he was referring to.

“I do not want to humiliate anybody. We are all workers in the government but I am appealing to you. Stop it. Stop it because it doesn’t do anything good to this country. Alam niyo na mali ‘yan (You know that that is wrong). Don’t mess (around). This is a very corrupt bureau and you are making it more corrupt. Please stop it,’ he said.

“This is not your property. This is the country’s Bureau of Customs, this is the Filipino people’s Bureau of Customs … so don’t act like you own this,” he added.

READ: Customs execs slammed for violations in House drug probe

Apart from promotions, Faeldon said there were also those requesting for some employees to be reassigned to a specific office of the BOC.

“Pati assignment, ituturo sayo: ‘O, dito mo ilagay.’ Why would I allow that (They would even meddle with the assignments: “This is where you should put him.” Why would I allow that)?” he said.

Earlier, one of Faeldon’s aides, lawyer Mandy Anderson, made the headlines after she called Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez an “imbecile” for supposedly pushing for the promotion of an employee who she said was “unqualified.”

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