New Customs chief bringing own team

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – The former mutineers of the Magdalo group recruited by outgoing Customs commissioner Nicanor Faeldon are also all going out with him as incoming chief Isidro Lapeña is bringing his own men into the bureau.

“I have my own men. I am bringing my own men as I take on this new job,” Lapeña said.

He is expected to take his oath before President Duterte at Malacañang tomorrow and take over from Faeldon on Wednesday. 

Lapeña said he already has the personalities who would be joining him at the Bureau of Customs.

“I have my own men whom I can trust and they have my confidence,” he said. 

Lapeña said he will not hire athletes the way Faeldon had tapped their services on a contractual basis in the past year.

Faeldon got the services of retired basketball superstars like Kenneth Duremdes and Marlou Aquino, among others, to play for the BOC team. They were hired as intelligence consultants.

Lapeña was the chief of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) before he was picked by Duterte to replace Faeldon as BOC chief.

Faeldon was embroiled in the controversial P6.4- billion shabu shipment from Xiamen, China that slipped through the BOC unnoticed last May.

In 2003, Faeldon participated in the infamous Oakwood mutiny staged by the Magdalo group to expose the alleged corruption of then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. He clarified that he merely joined the mutiny but was never part of the group.

At least 20 former Magdalo officers had joined Faeldon in the BOC, occupying key positions in the bureau.  

Several classmates of Faeldon in the Philippine Military Academy Class of 1995 were former Magdalo members and occupied key posts at Customs.

Former Col. Alvin Ebreo was designated as chief of the bureau’s legal services while Navy Lt. James Layug was director of the Port Operations Services.

Others who joined the mutiny but denied being members of the Magdalo group include former Army Capt. Gerardo Gambala and Army Capt. Milo Maestrecampo

Gambala was assigned as deputy commissioner, in charge both of the management information systems and technology group, and head of the bureau’s controversial “command center.” His office was reported to have approved the drug shipment from China.  

Maestrecampo, on the other hand, was director of the Import Assessment Services Office.

Faeldon also recruited a number of former military officials who were not in the Magdalo group.

Retired Gen. Natalio Ecarma was Faeldon’s deputy commissioner heading the revenue collection and monitoring group.

Col. Neil Estrella was director of the Customs Intelligence Investigation Service and former Army Col. Henry Torres was acting deputy commissioner in charge of the internal administration group of the BOC under Faeldon. 

The former military officers have reportedly already tendered their resignation following Sen. Panfilo Lacson’s revelations of corrupt officials in the bureau.

In a privilege speech last week, Lacson implicated the former Magdalo mutineers in the so-called tarabribe system in the BOC.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, for his part, welcomes the appointment of Lapeña as new BOC chief. 

“Sid’s integrity and competence are unquestioned,” Dominguez said.