Once again the Palace snake pit is on high gear. The recent claims made by retired Archbishop Oscar Cruz that a group identified with Pastor “Boy” Saycon of the Council for Philippine Affairs is mulling the replacement of President Noy Aquino due to “incompetence” has sowed a lot of intrigues in the Palace. Cruz’s claims came amid reports of renewed infighting among the factions within P-Noy’s official family. Our insider tells us this all started when the President announced his intention to appoint Mar Roxas as his presidential “trouble shooter.” COPA of course has denied the claims made by Archbishop Cruz.
The Palace snake pit however continues to work overtime with insinuations that Mar’s entry signals the beginning of a more intense power struggle by groups identified with recently confirmed Executive Secretary Jojo Ochoa, whose “Samar” faction reportedly supported the bid of Jojo Binay for Vice President – much to the chagrin of Mar’s allies. Even Mar himself admitted publicly that he expects a lot of intrigues once he steps into the Palace snake pit. Despite Malacanang’s attempts to downplay the infighting, it would seem that some groups are hell-bent to continue the intrigue and prevent Mar from gaining special access to P-Noy.
However, people who are very familiar with the President’s “legendary stubbornness” say that once P-Noy has made up his mind, he won’t budge an inch, with our Palace guy confirming to us that the more you push the President, the more he will stand pat on his decision.
Customary custom
Still on intrigues, it would seem that some well entrenched powerful individuals can’t shake the “customary custom” of engaging in a demolition job against “difficult and uncooperative” government officials like Customs Commissioner Lito Alvarez. Despite very high collection targets, the BOC collected P20.2 billion in duties and taxes in January, exceeding its target for the month by P216 million. Insiders say the reforms initiated by Alvarez have significantly reduced “opportunities” for corrupt BOC employees whose connivance with importers deprives the government billions in revenue earnings.
Among these changes include the abolition of non-performing units and merging those with duplicating functions. The nationwide implementation of the Bureau’s electronic to mobile (e2m) system has also made it easier to track exports, particularly those that use duty-free imported materials. Under the automated system, import and export declarations as well as airline and shipping manifests can be submitted online, with automatic alerts via text messages that can provide the status of the documents.
Apparently, Alvarez may have stepped on some sensitive toes due to the Bureau’s reinforced campaign against smugglers, with 25 cases filed last year with a combined claim of P52 billion. The BOC’s intelligence units have been conducting weekly seizures of undervalued and misdeclared goods – making business very expensive and unprofitable for habitual smugglers.
DILG’s special unit
Spy Bits sources confirmed that upon the instructions of President Noy, a special unit from the Department of the Interior and Local Government is quietly digging deeper into allegations that a general still active in the Philippine National Police is the top honcho of carnapping syndicates operating within Metro Manila and nearby provinces. Said to be helping the general as “coordinator” is a police colonel, also still active, who allegedly provides logistical and tactical support for the carjack gangs.
With public attention distracted by the bombshell revelations from retired Army colonel George Rabusa about millions in send-off (pabaon) and welcome (pasalubong) gifts to AFP chiefs, the carnap gangs have been busily engaged once again. The latest victim is the sister-in-law of former Environment Secretary and Congressman, now Zamboanga del Sur governor Antonio Cerilles – whose brand-new Mitsubishi Montero was carnapped yesterday morning right from the garage where it was parked. The carjackers destroyed the grills in one of the windows and took the keys of the SUV as well as the keys of another vehicle. The other day, another Mitsubishi Montero was also carnapped in Makati by two men who poked their guns at the driver just as he was taking the SUV out of the garage. Last Monday, several armed men blocked the path of a Strada and carjacked the vehicle – taking with them two passengers aged nine and 16.
What’s even more disturbing is the fact that these criminals seem to be protected by powerful individuals – changing their MO and getting even bolder, not just carting off the vehicles from parking lots but now getting inside the houses of their targets. The DILG special unit must not waste time and get its act together quickly before people decide to take matters into their own hands since the police image has gone to the pits and are now being ridiculed as “bantay-salakay.”
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Email: spybits08@yahoo.com