Revolving door

Senator Lacson does not believe the reason the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) put up for auction a shipment suspected of containing illegal drugs was to lure the owner of the shipment into showing up and submitting a bid. The shipment supposedly contained tapioca starch and aluminum pallets. According to the law, dangerous items such as illegal drugs must be seized and destroyed. According to Lacson, the winner of the auction discovered the illegal drugs when the shipment was delivered to his warehouse in Malabon. They immediately informed the authorities. So much for luring the owner of the shipment into participating in the auction.

The story is supposedly full of holes. According to Lacson, “Simply put, this is a case of dishonesty with the intention of deceiving the public.” What was PDEA’s plan once the auction was over, and the winning bidder was not the owner of the drugs? Lacson did not buy PDEA’s plan of “controlled delivery.” How can one believe in the administration’s seriousness in fighting illegal drugs, when the poor pushers and users are the ones ending up dead on the streets, while large drug shipments, most probably coming from President Duterte’s favorite country, continue to come in and even pass through the BOC? If the drugs were not discovered by the winning bidder, what was PDEA’s next move? A story poorly written. Thank goodness there are still those who do not simply buy into them.

Since we are already talking about the BOC, Lacson also denounced the reinstatement of a previously sacked official of the BOC into a higher position. “The BOC faces another question in leadership and management with the appointment of relieved MICP Collector Vener Baquiran to an even higher post as Customs Deputy Commissioner.” Baquiran was a former BOC district collector relieved over billions of pesos worth of shabu in magnetic lifters that made its way into the country last year. The DOJ and NBI even conducted an investigation and recommended that Baquiran be charged. What happened since that recommendation? According to the Palace, Baquiran was not relieved because of corruption but rather an oversight. The shipment “simply slipped past him.” He has already been reprimanded for the “oversight.” So much for the “whiff of corruption” speech.

I believe it is already difficult to clean the image of the BOC. The money to be made is just too big and easy to be ignored. As for Baquiran’s reinstatement, we know Duterte has a tendency to reinstate sacked or resigned officials into other positions in government. A revolving door. It is obvious that Duterte has a soft heart for the likes of Nicanor Faeldon who has been assigned to two other agencies since leaving the BOC. The “whiff of corruption” apparently applies to those who are not close to the president, or don’t know someone who is.