Letter of House Speaker Alvarez asking BOC to promote employee

House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez asked Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon to promote an employee of the Bureau of Customs, a letter from the Speaker obtained by GMA News Online showed.

The letter, sent by a source on Friday, came amid the allegations by Atty. Mandy Anderson, chief of staff of Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon, that Alvarez – through an assistant – threatened her when she refused to promote an "unqualified" BOC employee, whom the Speaker was allegedly lobbying for.

After tracking the document's bar code, the office of the customs commissioner confirmed that they received such letter from the House Speaker endorsing the promotion of one Mr. Sandy Sacluti.

Alvarez, however, denied he pushed for the promotion of an "unqualified" BOC employee as Anderson claimed.

In a text message to reporters on Friday, Alvarez said the allegations made by Anderson were "far from the truth."

"But I'm sorry I do not want to comment on that at the moment so as not to divert from the drug issue being investigated by the HOR (House of Representatives)," he added. — Ted Cordero/VDS, GMA News