Failure of leadership at Customs

What has happened with the Bureau of Customs (BOC) over the past two years simply shows that President Duterte has been a complete failure.

Worse, his decision to put the BOC under the Armed Forces of the Philippines is in clear violation of the Constitution, which makes one wonder if he is really a lawyer who passed the bar.

Mr. Duterte appointed two highly incompetent persons who came from the military and the police.

So what did we expect?

Nicanor Faeldon is a discredited Marine captain whose only qualification was his involvement with the Oakwood mutiny in 2003 and the Manila Peninsula siege in 2007.

He helped the former Davao City mayor in the 2016 presidential election and was rewarded with a top position as Customs commissioner.

This is the first time in history that a former military captain, who is not even a Philippine Military Academy graduate, was appointed to a very high post in government, such as the head of the BOC.

Previous military men appointed as Customs commissioners were retired AFP generals.

Faeldon was replaced by former Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency director general Isidro Lapeña, a retired police general, whose main qualification is being a “mistah” at the PMA (Class of 1973) of Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana.

Faeldon is now director of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) under the Department of Justice. It is ironic that he is now in charge of the penal management, when he should be the one in jail for all his crimes in military adventurism.

Just like with the BOC, this is the first time that a former captain is in charge of the BuCor.

Previous heads of the BuCor were retired military and police generals.

By the way, there is no truth to the rumor that the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, with Lapeña as director general, now offers a new course on magnetic lifter fabrication.

R. B. RAMOS,
rbrpilipinas@gmail.com