‘Powerful forces intervening at BOC’

3rd Customs exec resigns

MANILA, Philippines - “Powerful forces” are making it difficult for officials to implement much-needed reforms in the Bureau of Customs (BOC), former Army general Danilo Lim said yesterday.

A day after tendering his resignation as BOC intelligence chief, Lim said these forces are making it difficult for him to stay in the agency.

“There are really a lot of forces, powerful forces, who dip their fingers and interfere. I told (Executive Secretary Paquito) Ochoa if you can give me an agency, even a small one, for as long as I have control I will deliver,” Lim said over the radio dzMM.

Related story: Tañada says Senate, Congress 'forces' at work in Customs

Customs Deputy Commissioner for Internal Administration Group Juan Lorenzo Tañada also sent his resignation, via text message, making him the third Customs official to resign since Monday.

According to Lim, he had already asked Ochoa six times to transfer him to another agency.

He explained his request was not an indication that he could not do the task given to him, but it was really difficult to do his job well in the BOC, especially if he does not have control over the situation.

Lim mentioned in his resignation letter that he is giving up the BOC post because he is “privy to the truths that rang out” in President Aquino’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) last Monday.

For instance, Lim said, a shipment would be placed on alert, and soon, there would be calls and requests. There are instances when some of the requests involve contraband goods.

If he does not grant their requests, Lim said he would end up a victim of nasty rumors.

Lim admitted that after joining the Customs bureau, the job took a toll on his health, and he had to take maintenance medication for his blood pressure.

Lim submitted his resignation the other day following the courtesy resignation of Customs Commissioner Rufino Biazon.

Lim said he wanted another job, and was looking forward to working with former senator Panfilo Lacson, who is reportedly expected to lead an agency that would be created by President Aquino.

Customs Deputy Commissioner for Internal Administration Group (IAG) Juan Lorenzo Tañada also sent his resignation via text message to Biazon, asking him to relay his message to the President.

Tañada also agreed the Customs bureau has its share of “bad eggs.”

He said it was not easy to go against syndicates in the bureau.

Tañada said there were instances where the padrinos would surface, when politicians or persons of influence would call him for favors. Tañada, however, declined to name names.

He also bared cases when someone would call for favors, such as to provide employment in Customs or promote an employee in the agency.

“I can see that the problem in the bureau is well entrenched in the system. Definitely, it cannot be cured in just 20-25 months. There should really be reform, there should really be a system where we would be able to uproot the roots (of illegal activities) which have been there for 30 years,” he said.

‘A statement of frustration’

After Biazon, Lim and Tañada tendered their resignations, four other Customs deputy commissioners kept mum and have not expressed any interest to resign from their posts.

They are Deputy Commissioner for Assessment and Operations Coordinating Group Prudencio Reyes Jr., Deputy Commissioner for Revenue Collection Monitoring Group Peter Manzano, Deputy Commissioner for Enforcement Group Horacio Suansing Jr., and Deputy Commissioner for Management Information System and Technology Group Ma. Caridad Manarang.

When asked if he would ask the four other Customs officials to tender their resignations, Biazon said there was no need for him to order them since they are also presidential appointees.

“The President has already spoken… In this case, they are presidential appointees and it was the President who appointed them. If I was the one who appointed them, I would have the moral position to say, ‘Hey, you should resign.’ But they are presidential appointees,” he said.

Even when he was still Muntinlupa City representative, Biazon said it was never his style to ask someone to resign.

Biazon said he has already set an example when he offered to resign minutes after President Aquino finished his SONA last Monday.

“I do not need to make a directive to them,” he said.

When he asked if he was pleased that two other deputy commissioners have at least offered to quit, Biazon replied, “For me, we would be able to prove to the President that we heard what he said if more would respond” through resignation.

Biazon described the President’s criticism against the Customs bureau in his SONA as a “statement of frustration.”

Biazon stressed he would leave it to the other Customs officials to follow his example.

He said he maintains a professional relationship with his deputy commissioners and their performances are being reviewed quarterly.

For his part, Tañada explained he was only able to relay his offer to resign through text message last Tuesday since he was in Baguio City during the SONA.

He said he heard Biazon’s offer to resign right after the SONA and decided to follow his example.

Since he became part of the BOC family 18 months ago, this was the first time Tañada submitted a letter of resignation.

“As a good soldier, I decided to do what Commissioner Biazon did which is, of course, as courtesy, to give our Chief Executive free rein to determine whether… we still enjoy his confidence and if he still believes that we are fit to carry out our duties as deputy commissioners,” Tañada said.

Apart from the text message, Tañada said he was planning to write a formal letter of resignation and submit it to Malacañang. He clarified it would only be a courtesy resignation.

Tañada also said he was willing to stay on at the BOC and work with Biazon. He and Biazon have been friends for a long time.

“Well definitely, if the President retains, has enough trust and confidence in us to stay in office, we’re more than willing (to stay). As I told the commissioner yesterday, it has been an honor and a privilege to be here in this office,” he said.

Lim, on other hand, said he will continue supporting President Aquino and the government even after his resignation from Customs.

“Whether am out or with the government, I will continue to support this government. We should support this government even as a civil servant or in a private capacity,” Lim said.

Just like Biazon, Lim said he decided to quit his post as Customs intelligence chief after hearing the SONA, where the President singled out the bureau as one of the government agencies that failed to meet expectations in his righteous path policy.

Lim said he immediately prepared his resignation letter and had this received by Malacañang through the office of Executive Secretary Ochoa.

Malacañang, however, is waiting on President Aquino to act on Lim’s resignation.

“We have no word yet on the action taken. So let’s just wait for any response and we will announce it as soon as we have word,” presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said.

Lacierda, however, did not mention Tañada’s resignation.

“In the case of Deputy Commissioner Tañada, the Office of the Executive Secretary has not received the letter yet,” he said.

Lim was among the senior military officers linked to a series of coup attempts against then President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Under the Aquino administration, Lim was designated as Customs intelligence chief, a sensitive position whose primary task is to address the rampant smuggling activities in the country.

However, despite Lim’s presence in the graft-ridden bureau and his continuing moves to address illegal activity, he has apparently failed to dismantle well-entrenched smuggling operations. – Jaime Laude, Delon Porcalla