Customs appointment catches Rey Leonardo Guerrero by surprise

MANILA, Philippines — Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) director Rey Leonardo Guerrero disclosed last Thursday night that he was surprised by President Duterte’s appointment of him as commissioner of the Bureau of Customs (BOC).

Guerrero said the job of BOC chief is a new avenue and an unfamiliar duty for him.

“It’s really a surprise… the announcement. I came to know of the information during the announcement itself,” Guerrero told GMA-7. 

Guerrero said President Duterte’s marching order is for him to do the job.

“His marching order is simple. Like when I assumed in MARINA and as chief of staff (of the Armed Forces of the Philippines). It’s a challenge and it’s a another thing that I have to overcome,” Guerrero said.

Duterte suddenly announced Guerrero’s appointment as BOC chief during the anniversary celebration of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) last Thursday night.

“General (Isidro) Lapeña you are to move to TESDA. I will promote you to a Cabinet position. General Jagger Guerrero, you are to move to the Bureau of Customs. I know that you are happy there. So, I’ve heard. But demand for honest men requires your presence there,” Duterte said.

For his part, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency director general Aaron Aquino welcomed Guerrero’s appointment as BOC chief. 

Guerrero replaced Lapeña, who will be transferred to the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), amid the controversy over the alleged smuggling of P11 billion worth of shabu into the country.

Aquino told radio station dzBB yesterday that Guerrero is “not new” to them, and that PDEA had a good working relationship with MARINA under Guerrero’s term.

“Definitely we will have a better, a good collaboration and partnership, especially now that we need to concentrate and charge those involved in illegal drugs,” Aquino said. 

“Both of us will hit the international drug syndicates involved,” Aquino added. 

Aquino said under Guerrero’s term, MARINA inked a memorandum of agreement with PDEA allowing anti-drug agents to conduct inspections on vessels and on private and public ports.

He also said he was in constant communication with Guerrero.

Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said  the President has ordered Guerrero to ensure that corruption is minimized, if not eradicated, at least under his watch.

“Get rid of corruption there. Do something about it,” Panelo said.

Panelo pushed for internal transformation after Duterte named Guerrero to replace Lapeña in a bid to take the heat off the former police general who has been embroiled in controversy over the big haul of shabu that slipped past the BOC recently.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, chairman of the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs, said Guerrero faces a daunting task in cleaning up the BOC and hopes that he will not suffer the same fate as his predecessor. – With Michael Punongbayan, Christina Mendez, Paolo Romero, Jaime Laude