Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapeña reshuffled the bureau’s Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service (Wilkins Villanueva who reported back to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.
Lapeña also relieved from their posts all district commanders of CIIS, who he said failed to stop smuggling in their respective areas of jurisdiction.
The Customs chief said he relieved all CIIS personnel because he has not received any intelligence report on what’s happening in the bureau since they were placed in their respective posts for more than three months.
“Imagine, almost three months and yet I have not received any report. If not for the other people, I would not have known about the illegal activities going on in their respective areas of jurisdiction,” Lapeña said.
The CIIS post is vacant and newly-appointed Deputy Commissioner Ricardo Quinto of the Intelligence Croup was given a free hand to effect the changes.
He said that some of the CIIS district commanders might be involved in the “tara” system or the collection of grease money to facilitate customs transactions, causing questionable shipments to slip past BoC officials.
The former CIIS chief used to head the PDEA unit in the National Capital Region before he was named by Lapeña to lead the CIIS. V