Biazon welcomes deputies’ retention

MANILA, Philippines - Customs Commissioner Rufino Biazon assured the people yesterday that President Aquino’s move to retain two deputy commissioners in their posts would help in the ongoing efforts to implement reforms in the bureau.

Biazon said Deputy Commissioners Danilo Lim and Juan Lorenzo Tañada, whose courtesy resignations were reportedly rejected by Aquino, “already know Customs, its problems, and our proposed solutions… and would at least sustain our momentum.”

“Although I’m open to working with new team members if ever there are new appointments,” he told The STAR.

He said he had nothing to do with the previous offer of Lim and Tañada to resign nor with the President’s move to retain them despite the controversies hounding their respective offices.

He said the decision of Lim and Tañada to file their respective resignations was entirely their own.

And since they are presidential appointees, Aquino is the only one who can decide on their fate, he said.

“I don’t want to intervene for or against anyone who files a resignation because it is an act arrived at by an individual for reasons that are personal to him,” Biazon said.

Aquino in his State of the Nation Address (SONA) last July 22 lashed out at the rampant corruption at the Bureau of Customs (BOC), citing the unabated smuggling that included weapons and drugs, which many thought would trigger a major overhaul.

Biazon tendered his resignation immediately after the President’s tirade but it was rejected, prompting opposition lawmakers to state that Aquino was sending confusing signals in his anti-corruption campaign.

Meanwhile, Malacañang yesterday did not categorically deny The STAR’s report that President Aquino is keeping Lim and Tañada amid allegations of widespread corruption in the agency.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda announced in a news briefing that he was not privy to what was discussed in Aquino’s meeting with Lim last Tuesday afternoon.

“I have not met with the President, first, regarding to what he said that he will be meeting with deputy commissioner Lim,” he told Palace reporters, assuring them that he will seek confirmation about the reported retention of Lim and Tañada.

“We’ll have a meeting, I can ask him. If we’re able (to meet the President), yes we’ll inform you. We’re discussing another matter but we’ll try to get an answer from the President,” Lacierda promised.

Palace insiders disclosed that Lim and Tañada would have to stay on since Aquino didn’t accept their resignations, and that no names for their replacements have been mentioned.

Several names have been floated as possible replacements for Lim, Tañada or even their boss Biazon, but Malacañang has confirmed none of these and officials remain mum on the issue.

Some quarters have been in a quandary as to why Aquino has decided to keep all of the Customs officials who tendered their resignations – including Biazon – when he himself made an outburst and warned that his patience was running out on the agency.

Sources revealed that Lim and Tañada would have to stay and help Biazon implement the reforms that he already started by way of a major revamp of Customs officials and personnel.

“That is the way it is now. Of course we can do nothing about it,” an insider related, noting there have in fact been attempts to “withdraw” the resignation letters, but this was too late because these were already made public.

The STAR learned from sources as early as July 19 – the Friday before Aquino delivered his SONA the following Monday – about the resignation of Lim, but chose not to write about it since no official confirmed it.

Reporters nevertheless got wind of the development the following week, or after Aquino delivered his SONA, where no less than Lim himself confirmed having submitted his resignation letter, which was not irrevocable.

Tañada, cousin of ex-House deputy speaker Lorenzo Tañada III, followed suit.

Biazon said if Lim and Tañada are retained then that would allow the Customs bureau to proceed with momentum toward the goal of running after smugglers.

“I have no problem working with them. Both are familiar with the government’s program,” he added.

The BOC is implementing the reorganization as part of the government’s efforts to rid the agency of unscrupulous elements and stop smuggling.

Biazon earlier ordered all district heads and sub-port collectors to relinquish their posts in a bid to reform the agency.

The BOC failed to hit its revenue collection target for the seventh consecutive month, raising only P27.8 billion in July or P1.83 billion short of the agency’s goal of P29.63 billion for the same month. The amount, however, was 14 percent higher than the amount collected in July 2012.

This year, the BOC is tasked to collect P340 billion in revenues, P57 billion less than the P397-billion target originally set by the Department of Finance.

In the six months ending June this year, the BOC has collected P145.17 billion. With Delon Porcalla, Zinnia dela Peña