I can’t clean BOC alone – Faeldon

MANILA, Philippines - Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon yesterday admitted he was aware of entrenched corruption in the Bureau of Customs (BOC) but said he could not fight it alone.

Faeldon resurfaced yesterday at the inquiry of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee into the smuggling of some P6.4 billion worth of shabu that passed through the express lane of the BOC last May.

The BOC chief was absent in the previous hearing, citing a heart ailment that needed brief medical confinement.

But yesterday Faeldon was nearly cited for contempt after he repeatedly refused to answer questions from Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV.

Trillanes asked him whether there was corruption at the BOC, but Faeldon refused to answer.

Sen. Richard Gordon, chair of the panel, directed Faeldon to answer the question.

Faeldon said he will not answer because Trillanes has already made up his mind and has issued press statements portraying him as a corrupt official.

“The senator has come up with a lot of accusations like that I’m in the middle of the shabu smuggling. I’m already guilty because of his accusations… many innocent people are affected by this. So why will I answer him when he has already come up with his conclusions,” Faeldon told Gordon.

“There may be something between the two of you, but don’t bring your quarrel here,” Gordon said, referring to Faeldon and Trillanes being colleagues in the Magdalo group before they parted ways.

Faeldon remained adamant, saying Trillanes has made “attacks on innocent people” at the BOC and it is his duty to defend them. He also insisted that he will answer questions from other senators but not Trillanes.

After repeated arguments, Gordon suspended the hearing and approached the teary-eyed Faeldon and appealed to him.

When the hearing resumed, it was Gordon who asked Trillanes’ question and Faeldon answered “yes.”

Faeldon said he recently dismissed three BOC employees who were caught receiving bribes on CCTV camera.

The subsequent questions were asked by Trillanes, who asked about the “tara” or standard bribe given to corrupt BOC officials to facilitate the release of containers that come in from the ports.  

Faeldon said the “tara system” has been entrenched in the bureau long before he came into the BOC and “like everyone else we want it to stop.”

Trillanes asked Faeldon what he has done to stop it after more than a year in the BOC.

Faeldon replied that he came in along with some people, but the BOC is dominated by those who have worked there “ever since.”

“Admittedly, I failed to investigate it because I cannot do it alone. I was the only one appointed up to late last year. The people I have worked with there are the people I suspect of doing the tara,” he explained.

He added that since he assumed the top post in the BOC last year, he has been repeatedly asking traders, importers and businessmen to directly report to him any of his personnel asking for bribes.

He said there are 12,000 importers, but up to now, not one among them has reported to him. BOC officials said about 10,000 containers enter the country every day.

“If you’re alone in an environment like this, you can imagine my situation,” Faeldon told the panel.

Meanwhile, Malacañang said yesterday that President Duterte would wait for the report of both chambers of Congress on the entry of multibillion-peso worth of shabu in the country before deciding on the fate of Faeldon.

“We note the statement of the House dangerous drugs committee and chair and we await other reports,” presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said. 

Some lawmakers have urged Duterte to fire Faeldon, saying he can no longer be trusted because of the release of a P6.4-billion shabu shipment from China last May. 

Faeldon has rejected calls for him to quit, saying only the President can fire him.  –  With Alexis Romero