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Batas Mauricio

MEDIA seems to be the one being blamed once again for the clearly flip-flopping reports on what President Duterte is truly thinking about the P6.4-billion shabu scandal at the Bureau of Customs.

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This is on account of the conflicting reports about what the President truly feels about Customs Commissioner Nick Faeldon, after renewed interest erupted in the country on how that huge quantity of shabu managed to come out from the Bureau, using its courtesy lane yet.

Surely, Faeldon and his officials, including chief of staff lawyer Mandy Anderson, have a lot to explain about this brouhaha, yet, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III was quoted in a headline story of a Manila newspaper, in its Aug. 2, 2017 issue, as saying the beleaguered customs chief continues to have the trust and confidence of the President.

But no sooner had the ink on that headline story dried when Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella came out with a press statement, on the same day of Aug. 2, 2017, clarifying that Dominguez did not really say that Duterte continues to trust Faeldon.

Abella’s statement said: “Regarding the statement attributed to DOF Sec Dominguez. May we clarify that he made no such announcement. He merely confirmed that a meeting with various officials transpired, when asked by our staff…”

It would appear further that Duterte indeed met with Faeldon and Bureau of Internal Revenue Commissioner Cesar Dulay on Aug. 1, 2017. During that meeting, Duterte told Faeldon to focus on his job of serving the nation as head of the Bureau of Customs, increasing its collections.

Unfortunately for Faeldon, however, Duterte met, also on Aug. 1, 2017, with congressmen and senators who are allied with the Chief Executive, for a late dinner at Malacanang. During that late dinner, many of the lawmakers sought the ouster of Faeldon because they believe that his handling of the shabu scandal left many questions on his integrity.

As a result, Duterte appears to have withdrawn his expression of continuing trust for Faeldon. Instead, the president is now disposed to act on the fate of the former soldier depending on the outcome of the inquiries being conducted on the P6.4-billion shabu scam by the House of Representatives and the Senate. This early, I think Faeldon should now resign, if he knew what is best for him!

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So, are we being led to forget that some P6 billion worth of shabu — whose sale, distribution, and use among Filipinos in every nook and cranny of the Philippines catapulted a mere city mayor to the presidency of the country in 2016 — actually was allowed to be shipped out of the Bureau of Customs?

I mean, all the noise and brouhaha over some lady lawyer calling the top official of the House of Representatives an “imbecile” and the frenzied reaction of the top officials’ trusted lieutenants appear to be desperate distractions and diversionary tactics to keep away from the public mind the true crime in all these, which is the bringing in of tons and tons of shabu into our country.

It would seem there is a conspiracy to “kill” the real news here, which is the mockery of Duterte’s fierce anti-illegal drugs campaign that has resulted in the murder of thousands of people already who are merely suspected of peddling shabu. I believe we Filipinos should all ask: why are heads not rolling yet at the Bureau of Customs despite its officials’ clear culpability in the P6 billion shabu scandal?

We should also really ask Customs Commissioner Faeldon to explain why this big amount of shabu was allowed to enter the Bureau and then, as some quarters are claiming now, was even allowed to be released through its so-called “Express Lane”. Did he know of this? If he did, what did he do to prevent the shabu from being shipped out of the Bureau?

Faeldon must also show to the Filipino people and, of course, to his boss, Finance Secretary Dominguez and even to Duterte, the steps he has already undertaken to investigate the scam, and then to prosecute those who maybe responsible for it.

At the very least, considering the multi-million peso intelligence fund of the Bureau of Customs, he must be able to assure the nation that the government already knows who is behind this caper, and what measures are already in place to make him or her, or even them, answerable for what they had done, or they may still be doing.

Then, I am sure there could be one or two, or more, officials of the Bureau of Customs who must have lent their assistance in this smuggling of P6 billion worth of shabu. Who knows, some of them may even be parading themselves as Filipinos with patriotic hearts, hiding their true nature as wolves in sheep’s clothing, so they could go on with their nefarious ways unmolested.

Is Faeldon even trying to determine who these officials are? I am asking this because there seems to be no news about this.

Again, considering the vast powers of his office, I am sure he already has a working knowledge, at least, of these officials, so the question is, what has he done against them?

If the Bureau of Customs failed to stop the smuggling of an evident contraband like shabu, valued in billions of pesos yet which even passed through its doors and gates, what other contrabands are being smuggled left and right into the county now which the Bureau is unaware of or has failed to check?

Must the Bureau continue to be led by its evidently incompetent officials?

E-mail: batasmauricio@yahoo.com

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