It appears that the leadership just does not have the killer instinct to deal with big-time drug dealers.
It is just a matter of time until the Bureau of Customs (BOC) earns the ire of President Duterte who of late has received reports about the continued smuggling of illegal drugs into the country.
It’s simply naiveté for anyone to think that the BOC has completely reformed through a changing of the guards for the nth time and that the President would not know what’s really going inside this agency.
Billions of pesos worth of shabu and other illegal drugs reportedly pass through Customs at the country’s various international seaports and airports.
Manong Digong, who never fails to tell it as it is, suggested that Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo “Jagger” Guerrero may not be cut out for the job, after all.
“I told him straight. Drugs are still flowing inside the country through Customs. I wanted to say to him earlier. You asked for guns, didn’t you? I approved the purchase of firearms and until now you have not killed even one. I told him: Shape up,” said the President, disclosing his conversation with Guerrero.
While the nincompoops who preceded him were smacked with corruption, Guerrero simply may not have what it takes to stop the drug trafficking at Aduana.
Guerrero just does not have the killer instinct needed to deal with big-time drug dealers.
No, the retired Philippine Army general does not resemble the mythical Leon Guerrero, Pinoy-version of crime-buster Lone Ranger in the western movies.
As Manong Digong had warned Guerrero, the old hands at Aduana have perpetrated technical smuggling and the “tara system,” in cahoots with smugglers and drug lords.
Insiders have it that some BOC intelligence operatives have failed to stop the influx of illegal drugs because they are rather focused on imported “general merchandise” cargoes.
My BOC sources said these operatives have trained their eyes on general merchandise shipments which serve as the "milking cow" of the said mulcting personnel.
For every container of general merchandise, brokers and importers reportedly cough up P3,000 to these people.
Brokers and importers retrieve about 4,000 containers daily so we’re talking about millions of dirty pesos that change hands each and every day.
One insider intimated to me that these people's boss is in fact “not aware” of his men’s “kotong” activities that have brought an “early Christmas” mood at BOC.
I myself would like to believe so, as the President would not have appointed all these retired military generals if they did not have unblemished records.
Some old hands at the waterfront, however, only the gullible will believe the supposition that some top officials do not know about their men’s kotong racket.
They said these officials merely turned a blind eye to their men’s Christmas fund-raising activities. "Paskung-pasko na sa mga ilan sa Customs,” said a veteran player at Aduana.
It’s a shame that while the Presidential Task Force headed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) goes after the Mafia in the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), the legendary corruption at the BoC remains as rampant as ever.
That, Mr. President, explains why the BOC intelligence operatives have failed to stop the drug cartel from flooding the country with multi-billion pesos worth of imported shabu and other illegal drugs through Customs.
Hayahay!!!