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SAYS SEN. GORDON

Shabu smuggling as ‘lawless violence’ justifies military personnel at BOC


The unabated entry of shabu in the country, valued at billions of pesos, is lawless violence that justifies the necessity of using the Armed Forces of the Philippines against corrupt officials and personnel at the Bureau of Customs, Senator Richard Gordon said Tuesday.

Gordon, who chairs the Senate Blue Ribbon panel, justified President Rodrigo Duterte’s decision to put the Bureau of Customs under military control amid rampant shabu smuggling.

The Senate panel conducted a hearing Tuesday the recent large-scale shipment of shabu, supposedly valued at P11 billion, that entered the country while hidden inside massive magnetic lifters that were later discovered by authorities—albeit empty of their illicit content.

One batch of the magnetic lifters was shipped from Malaysia, the other was from Vietnam, according to the Customs bureau.

One of the shipments was discovered at the Manila International Container Port in August 7, the other at a warehouse in Cavite on August 8.

“Malinaw na malala ang smuggling operations and we are under siege. Kaya ang nakikita ko, may lawless violence, and it is the entry of drugs at the Customs that brings violence to the people,” Gordon told reporters.

What the President is doing is constitutional, the senator noted, but made it clear that the military must have a clear-cut marching order on what they are supposed to do at the bureau.

Under the 1987 Constitution, the President, as Commander-in-Chief, can call out the Armed Forced of the Philippines to prevent or suppress “lawless violence, invasion or rebellion.”

Detailed assignment

But the Armed Forces in active service cannot be appointed or designated in any capacity to a civilian position in the government, including government-owned and controlled corporation or any of its subsidiaries.

“Therefore, ang hinihingi ko lang kay Presidente ay idetalye kung ano gagawin ng mga sundalo, kasi hindi naman pwedeng gagawa ang mga sundalo ng assessment ng shipment. Hindi naman pwedeng magagalaw ang Civil Service [code],” Gordon said.

“Pero ang paghuli sa matagal ng nakabara d’yan na container boxes, pwede nang sitahin ng mga sundalo. The President must just come out with detailed activities for the military and, at the same time, kailangan maglagay ng Customs Academy para [disiplinahin ang] mga nagloloko sa Customs,” he added.

Concerns about having the AFP at the BOC pertain to the lack of core competency on the part of the military in taking over the revenue-generating agency, and that it become another pattern of response on the part of Duterte without achieving the desired results, another senator said.

“What does the Armed Forces know about collecting taxes and tariffs? The bureaucracy is becoming militarized. What’s next, BIR? Immigration?” Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan said.

“Besides, not all military officials are effective managers like inept Capt. Faeldon and General Lapeña of Customs and Jason Aquino of NFA,” Pangilinan added.

Nicanor Faeldon is a former BOC commissioner who also got entangled in a separate shabu smuggling incident that was also the subject of a Senate hearing, while Aquino is a former administrator of the National Food Authority.

‘The solution’

The facts are there, Pangilinan noted: P6.4 billion worth of shabu was smuggled under Faeldon’s watch, and P11 billion Isidro Lapeña’s watch.

The senator also noted the rice shortage that plagued the country was due to the ill-timed importation of rice while the NFA was headed by Aquino. As a result, rice prices spiked and contributed to inflationary pressure.

“Regardless of who manages the Bureau of Customs, if Malacañang itself tolerates and does not punish Faeldon and Lapeña and doesn't show any teeth and outrage against drug lords, nothing will come of the Armed Forces’ transfer because it will only follow Malacañang’s orders,” Pangilinan said.

“The solution is not in the transfer of any agency but in showing that incompetent officials and the syndicates they are in connivance with—all big fish—are punished and held to account. We need no-nonsense solutions, not theatrics,” he added.

But Gordon maintained that something drastic must be done to stop the rampant smuggling of shabu or methamphetamine chloride—also called the “poor man’s cocaine.”

“Ngayon, sinasabi naman na P11 billion [from P6.8 billion]. I don’t care about the amount. Kahit anong amount, kailangan mahuli ‘yan,” the senator said.

The amount is irrelevant, Gordon noted. What is needed is for those responsible to be apprehended. “If it is always like this, the problem will always be there.” —VDS, GMA News

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