Danny Lim to get new post outside Customs

DAVAO CITY , Philippines   â€“ Resigned Customs deputy commissioner for intelligence Danilo Lim is being considered for another post outside the bureau, President Aquino said yesterday. 

“I’ll be giving him (Lim) a new assignment. We’re still in the process of discussing where exactly his new assignment will be,” Aquino told reporters on the sidelines of the 22nd Mindanao Business Conference at the SM Lanang Convention Center here.

Aquino confirmed that he met with Lim last Tuesday, but said this was mostly about the “nitty-gritty” of problems that beset the graft-ridden Bureau of Customs (BOC), which is undergoing a major revamp.

“Afterwards, he will be given a new tasking out of Customs,” he said, without elaborating. 

The STAR earlier reported that Aquino had decided to keep him in the BOC.

Sources revealed earlier that the former military official wanted Aquino to transfer him to the Bureau of Immigration.

Insiders related that Aquino was irritated by Lim’s request, which was why the latter went out of the Cabinet security cluster meeting last Tuesday.

Prior to this, and long before he tendered his resignation three weeks ago, Lim had also sought a transfer to the National Food Authority when its former administrator Lito Banayo left the agency to run for public office.

Recently, when Aquino relieved administrator Antonio Nangel of the National Irrigation Administration, Lim also sought the help of Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. in endorsing him to replace Nangel, but Aquino rejected it.

Also yesterday, Aquino said Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon had expressed to him his desire to retain Customs deputy commissioner Juan Lorenzo Tañada, who had also tendered his resignation after Lim did.

“I haven’t talked to him (Tañada). But commissioner Biazon is batting to retain deputy commissioner Tañada,” Aquino told journalists. 

Tañada is a cousin of former House deputy speaker Lorenzo Tañada III, a Liberal Party member like the President.

Aquino refused to say, however, what he intends to do with Customs officials who refused to submit their courtesy resignations that will help Biazon implement long-needed reforms in the bureau.