Customs chief transferred to Tesda
Former Customs collector Lourdes Mangaoang on Thursday accused Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapeña of being a member of a drug syndicate that brought in billions worth of shabu (methamphetamine) hidden in four magnetic lifters.
Mangaoang made the accusation in a news conference a day after Lapeña was forced to admit, in a hearing at the House of Representatives on Tuesday, that contraband might have been slipped into the country through the suspicious shipment of four magnetic lifters found in a warehouse in Cavite in August.
Later in the day, President Rodrigo Duterte announced the transfer of Lapeña to the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda), and placed all commissioners and department heads of the Bureau of Customs on “floating status.”
‘Bury yourself further’
In a news conference in Manila, Mangaoang turned the tables on Lapeña, saying the Customs chief must be a member of a drug syndicate that facilitated the entry of the four magnetic lifters that allegedly contained more than a ton of shabu, now valued at P11 billion (see related story on A1).
“Of all the shipments that were slipped past Customs, drugs were never let in. It’s the culture in Customs. You all know that. You can’t smuggle firearms. But a lot of drugs were smuggled into the country and covered up by no less than the commissioner of Customs,” she told reporters.
She claimed that because of Lapeña’s failed attempt to cover up the entry of contraband, he was “now a suspect as a member of the drug syndicate.”
“Go on and bury yourself further,” she said.
Prior to the President’s announcement of a revamp at Customs, Mangaoang called on Lapeña to quit.
Customs spokesman and Port of Manila Collector Erastus Sandino Austria described Mangaoang’s statements as “nonsense.”
“She’s neither prosecutor nor judge to say these things,” said Austria in a text message to The Manila Times.
Mangaoang was accompanied by Presidential Anti-Crime Commission chief Dante Jimenez.
Earlier in the day, Lapeña said he would not resign from his post
Lapeña had been under fire for denying that the magnetic lifters contained shabu, and even engaged in a word war with Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) chief Aaron Aquino.
PDEA K-9 units had confirmed that shabu was placed inside the lifters.
Lapeña’s position was echoed by Duterte himself, who said in August that the supposed concealment of contraband in the magnetic lifters was “pure speculation.”
Promotion
Lapeña suffered the same fate as his predecessor, Nicanor Faeldon, who was transferred to the Office of Civil Defense after being accused of letting in shabu worth P6.4 billion last year.
Indicating that he still trusted Lapeña, Duterte said he was promoting the former police officer and head of the PDEA to Tesda director general, a Cabinet-level post.
“General Lapeña will move to Tesda, I will promote you to a Cabinet member position,” Duterte said in his speech during the 117th anniversary of the Philippine Coast Guard in Manila.
Sought for comment, Lapeña, who was in the same event, said: “I’m given another job that is a promotion, Cabinet. I would like to thank the President for this opportunity to serve in another capacity. I did not know [of this].
Any government employee should expect that there will be movement. [But] for me, this is a movement upward.”
Maritime Industry Authority Administrator Rey Leonardo Guerrero, a former military chief, will replace Lapeña at the Bureau of Customs (BoC).
“I think my orders to you (Guerrero) is, you boot them out of their offices. They are in floating status… Everyone out, to the last man. The commissioners are out, the department heads are out,” Duterte told the new Customs chief.
It will be up to Guerrero to decide on who to appoint to the vacant posts, the President said.
“Maybe, you can utilize military men. The excess [military personnel], even the women,” he said.
Duterte said he appointed Guerrero to the controversial bureau because “the demands of public service and the need for honest men requires your presence there.”
The Chief Executive warned Guerrero not to give in to corruption at BoC, reputedly one of the most corrupt agencies in government.
“If you are corrupt, then X-rays that are filled with shabu, you can never see it,” Duterte said.
Customs Deputy Collector Lourdes Mangaoang.
PHOTO BY RENE DILAN
‘Polong not involved’
Mangaoang also dismissed allegations that the President’s son, former Davao City vice mayor Paolo “Polong” Duterte, had something to do with the rampant drug smuggling.
“The President’s family has nothing to do with this and what they were saying about Polong. Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte has nothing to do with this. In my 30 years at the Bureau of Customs, we will know it, and Polong is not involved,” she said.
She noted that the younger Duterte has a lot of friends in the importation business, and could have easily directed the illegal shipment to the Port of Davao or Port of Cagayan de Oro.
Mangaoang also admitted that she was “no saint” but stressed that she was never involved in illegal activities in the bureau.
“The Customs bureau is teeming with corrupt people. I am not a saint but I am not an extortionist and neither will I do anything illegal. They are trying to look for evidence to pin me down but they could not find anything,” she added.
WITH RALPH EDWIN U. VILLANUEVA
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