The resignation of Ruffy Biazon as Bureau of Customs chief continues to be the “talk of the town” among Filipinos who are concerned with the way the Aquino administration is handling the smuggling problem in the Philippines.
When Ramon Ang revealed that the government may be losing billions of pesos in potential tax revenues every year due to oil smuggling, there followed calls for Biazon to resign. But the Customs commissioner simply shrugged off the calls, saying that he continues to enjoy the trust of President Aquino.
President Aquino, for his part, just turned a deaf ear to the clamor and Malacañang proclaimed that the President still trusts his Customs chief and a replacement is unlikely.
Recall the loss of 2,000 container vans at the Port of Manila in 2011, which led to the resignation of Customs Commissioner Angelito Alvarez. That incident should remind both Biazon and President Aquino that the honorable thing to do is for Biazon to relinquish his post for miserably failing to fulfill his duties.
—MELANIE SANCHEZ
melanie_sanchez1992@yahoo.com