Jockeying for 2nd top Customs post

A fight more bruising than Pacquiao versus de la Hoya is boiling at Customs. Six officers fiercely are vying for the post of deputy commissioner for intelligence and enforcement, to succeed the retiring Celso Templo. The rank is second highest but perhaps most powerful in the agency. Cheating importers and brokers, much more smugglers, despise the office that runs after or at times extorts from them. In contrast the commissioner is in charge of relatively innocuous revenue collection, not law enforcement.

Three aspirants are insiders: Manila port collector Horacio Suansing, NAIA collector Carlos So, and Customs police chief Jose Yuchongco. Two are retired police generals: Nestorio Gualberto and Nicasio Radovan, past and present head, respectively, of enforcement and security services. The last, Jun Vicencio, used to be special assistant in the ’80s to then-Customs boss Salvador Mison.

The deputy commissionership traditionally is awarded to choices of the influential Iglesia ni Cristo. The church hierarchy, on which Presidents rely for millions of bloc votes, nominates either members or friends it trusts to help catch tax cheats. Templo is an INC member, and so are So, Radovan and Vicencio, but Suansing, Yochongco and Gualberto are deemed friends, a churchman confides.

The INC dominance may soon be a thing of the past. Church leaders reportedly have decided to not back anyone this time. The turn of events may cheer up advocates of separation of Church and State. But Customs sources say it has turned the contest into an ugly free-for-all, with some new aspirants rushing in to play highest bidders.

Trouble began when a Cabinet member interloped to break the INC sway. It wasn’t clear whether he was trying to do the President a favor or is secretly backing a seventh candidate. But he caused the fabrication of a scandal sheet that landed in the hands of the INC clergy. Ostensibly coming from Customs employees, the document detailed real and imagined abuses by INC members in the agency. To escalate the fight, the Cabinet man then caused the drafting of a “retaliatory exposé,” this time supposedly coming from the INC members. Again, real and concocted anomalies were stated.

The INC brass ordered an internal investigation. Learning that some members indeed had misused the referrals for personal gain, it directed all of them to resign from Customs. That act of sacrifice is to test their honesty in public service and fealty to the church.

If they comply, Templo might have to leave sooner than scheduled. The positions of enforcement and security services chief (Radovan’s) and NAIA collector (So’s) could also suddenly be vacated. Same with ranks of assistant.

“There’s a big ruckus here,” a Customs officer shook his head, “there’s a mad rush for so many positions.”

The new aspirants may exploit the INC pullout by paying for their posts, then stealing from the public till to recover their “investments”. Non-members may frown on INC meddling in state affairs, but it serves a good purpose. Not beholden to Malacañang, INC nominees can afford to disobey illicit orders from the top to accommodate smuggling cronies. They can even squeal on their bosses. That is, if they piously stay on the straight and narrow path. Otherwise, the hierarchy will move to protect the church’s name.

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It’s not all bad news in the business process outsourcing sector due to the world financial crisis. Call centers of Winsource continue to grow after partnering with similar Malaysian and US firms. This, says vice chairman Kim Cabatit, has enabled the mother company Winace Holdings to post contracts close to $700 million for 2009. Winace, led by economist Teodorico Haresco, is also into bridge building, real estate, resorts, restaurants, security services, and management consultancy.

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Lagalag sa Nanyang, Joaquin Sy’s translation of renowned Chinese novelist Bai Ren’s Nanyang Piaoiuji, won the 2008 National Book Award. It is the first Chinese-to-Filipino book to win the prestigious prize from The Manila Critics Circle.

Sy, after translating a dozen books in Chinese, English and Filipino, undertook Lagalag last year with support of fellow Tsinoy writers Caroline Hau and Robby Kwan Laurel. Sy had previously won the Catholic Mass Media Award and the Jose Rizal Award for Excellence in Literature. All his works are published by Kaisa Para Sa Kaunlaran, an NGO working for integration of Chinese Filipinos into mainstream Philippine society. Hayaang Samahan Ka ng Kalusugan, a Filipino translation of a popular Chinese health manual, had a run of 30,000 copies, mostly given free to teachers.

Bai Ren had come to Manila from China at age 14 to apprentice in an uncle’s shop. He then joined a Chinese newspaper, but World War II disrupted his journalism career. He returned to his homeland to join the Communist Party and the anti-Japanese resistance. Now 90, Bai Ren lives in Beijing. Nanyang Piaoliuji, his most popular work, recounts his experiences as a young man in the Philippines.

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