The Bureau of Customs and political patronage

Has delicadeza all but disappeared from Filipino culture? A couple of months ago, I got a lot of anonymous e-mails asking me to print the story that Cebu Customs Collector Ma. Lourdes Mangaoang was going to be replaced by Grace Caringal, Customs Collector in Subic. Those e-mails were followed by a series of negative stories about Mangaoang that the collection of the Cebu Bureau of Customs has gone down so low… that her position was in peril. The next thing we knew, Caringal tried to wiggle herself to become Cebu Customs Collector with the help of a few insiders from Malacañang!

What got my gall was that Caringal hired a PR consultant who conducted a presscon on her behalf that she was being appointed in Cebu… yet on the very day of that presscon by her PR man, she was in Subic assuring the Customs personnel that she was still the collector there. It was the first time in history that I heard of someone trying to get a juicy position in Cebu who used a PR man to prop herself up. Time was when Customs officials had a sort of tour of duty for a few years and when a reshuffle was called, that was the time they were moved to other districts.

Well, a temporary restraining order (TRO) from the Court of Appeals (CA) put a freeze on the shuffling of Customs posts for 60 days, which was followed by the coup de grace, a recall order from no less than Finance Secretary Margarito Teves. Thus ended the naked power grab by Caringal to become Cebu Customs Collector. She was to say the least, very unwelcome! That was the first time we ever witnessed a government official trying to force her way into an important government position. The nerve!

But just when we thought that all that was over and done with, enter Ms. Purita Parojinog, a "supervising Customs operation officer" or assistant division chief who, just like Caringal, wants to grab the post of Cebu Customs Collector. What we learned from the Human Resource Management and Development (HRMD) of the BOC was that Parojinog is not even a Collector 1 and therefore, she is not qualified to get that post.

We also learned that Parojinog was placed on "floating" status for three years for reasons we still have to find out. We all know that when one is "frozen" or placed on "floating" status in government, she must have done something grievous or mischievous that she was put in deep freeze for three years! Well, I don’t know who are the shadowy, well-connected faces who are trying to resurrect Parojinog; they even got an "endorsement" from the Cebu provincial board… but Gov. Gwen Garcia refused to play the "political patronage" game simply because Collector Mangaoang didn’t even ask for an endorsement from her.

To make this very controversial attempt to take over the position held by Atty. Mangaoang juicier, it was also revealed that Parojinog is a sister-in-law of the famous Parojinog leader of the fabled "Kuratong Baleleng Gang" who committed armed robberies in the Visayas and Mindanao. We’re not saying that Parojinog is involved in the criminal activities of her relatives nor are we trying to diminish her career in the Bureau of Customs.

But it’s about time that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA) put a stop to this ugly culture of political patronage. So far, the people of Cebu are contended with the performance of Customs Collector Lourdes Mangaoang and we can only suspect that smuggling syndicates with government connections are hell-bent in removing her out of Cebu because she has already hurt their illicit trade. Just a month ago, she helped recover 10 Kia Sorento SUVs that were stolen from South Korea and shipped to Cebu obviously by a criminal syndicate with links to Cebuano smugglers.

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No doubt there is a nationwide clamor to finally put an end to the decades-long communist insurgency. The Freeman’s headline last Saturday blared, "Gwen calls for all-out war vs NPA" which was hailed by the people of Cebu who have grown weary and tired that the communist insurgency is still with us today. Then Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz said the government could defeat the communist threat in 10 years. Will it really take that long? Actually, if we gave the governors full support in the anti-insurgency campaign, the communist threat will be over in less than five years.

For decades, past Cebu governors didn’t care to make this declaration for their own reasons. But it had to take a woman governor in the person of Gov. Gwen Garcia to publicly declare war against the New People’s Army (NPA), which proves that this woman has "balls!" I talked with Gov. Gwen last Monday and she told me that she was serious on this and will use the resources of the province of Cebu to weed out the communist threat.

Actually what brought the Cebu governor to make that declaration was when Lt. Col. Felicissimo Budiongan, executive officer of the 303rd Infantry Brigade in Negros Oriental, revealed in a meeting in Region VII that there are only 38 NPA regulars in Cebu with a total of 49 firearms in their possession, but they wield influence over 50 barangays. Negros Oriental has 128 NPA rebels operating in 19 barangays, while Bohol has 104 operating in 12 barangays. Only Siquijor has no communist insurgency in the region.

When Gov. Gwen heard this, she immediately made her declaration, saying, "I want all-out war! It is either black or white… no ifs or buts!" Of course, she meant that barangay leaders who were supporting the NPA would be dealt with accordingly… but knowing Gov. Gwen, her all-out war isn’t going to be a military one because I know she would let the military do their own thing.

What the governor intends to do is flush out these NPAs by giving financial aid and economic support to those areas considered "infested" or "influenced" by the NPA whose activities in Cebu are concentrated in the northern towns of Carmen, Catmon, Sogod, Tabuelan, and San Remigio.

Strangely, Bogo, the biggest town in northern Cebu, has been spared from communist activities and many pundits are saying that this could be due to the fact that Rep. Clavel Asas-Martinez gave a few millions from her pork barrel to the Bayan-Central Visayas perhaps in a "quid pro quo" arrangement. Usually, we see leftist activities in sugarlands and Bogo is the site of Cebu’s sugar industry... and they have no insurgency problems? Hmmm!

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For e-mail responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit Avila’s columns in The Freeman can also be accessed through The Philippine STAR website (www.philstar.com). He also hosts a weekly talkshow, "Straight from the Sky," shown every Monday, 8 p.m., only in Metro Cebu on Channel 15 of SkyCable.