Aquino sacks Customs chief

This is a re-posted article

CUSTOMS commissioner Angelito A. Alvarez is on the way out, with President Benigno S.C. Aquino III declaring he was “no longer happy” and would soon announce a replacement.

In an August 26 radio interview aired only yesterday, Mr. Aquino said he had already chosen the next Bureau of Customs (BoC) chief, who had asked for some time before taking on the job.

“Pinangako ko po kasi sa pagpapalit diyan ay bibigyan ko ng konting espasyo… kumbaga ang sabi niya ito yung mga huling araw ng katahimikan sa buhay niya (I promised the person who would be the replacement some space… these will be the last days of peace, so to speak,” Mr. Aquino said in the dzXL interview.

“[H]indi nga ho ako masaya (I am no longer happy,” the president said in explaining the change.

Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail D. Valte confirmed the radio interview, saying “[the president] mentioned replacing the BoC chief… [he] declined to name the replacement.”

There was no word as to when Mr. Alvarez would be replaced.

Mr. Aquino has previously expressed displeasure over the BoC’s performance and in June it was reported that Mr. Alvarez could be replaced by businesswoman Elizabeth H. Lee, who announced that she was quitting Universal Motors Corp. and the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines, Inc.

Mr. Alvarez said his family has been “praying” for his resignation, and said the list of possible replacements included Ms. Lee, Bureau of Corrections chief Gaudencio S. Pangilinan, former internal revenue commissioner Liwayway Vinzons Chato and former Muntinlupa Rep. Rozzano Rufino “Ruffy” B. Biazon.

A name that has also been floated is that of former Cagayan Rep. Manual N. Mamba.

Mr. Alvarez all but confirmed that he had been sacked by Mr. Aquino, saying he had not offered to resign and on Friday had even asked his immediate superior, Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima, if he should use the long weekend to “pack up.”

“Sabi niya, hindi, magtrabaho ka lang diyan (He told me no, just keep working),” Mr. Alvarez said.

“I am very transparent — if I resign now, it won’t be thought of as voluntary… if I tender my resignation, people will say I am angling for a graceful exit, let it be. I say with pride I served with integrity until the last day,” he added, speaking partly in Filipino.

“’Di na kailangan mag-resign (I don’t need to resign); maybe Mr. Purisima will ask for my resignation letter for clearance purposes, maybe then, but anytime may kapalit (if there is a replacement already) I will turn over the position.”

Mr. Purisima was not immediately available for comment.

Mr. Alvarez noted that he had received flak over thousands of missing cargo containers, but also pointed out that he had since conducted an investigation, would be charging the guilty parties, and had instituted a “permanent solution” to scuttle an “old smuggler’s trick.”

He also claimed that contrary to accusations that the containers’ disappearance was “unprecedented,” thousands had also been lost prior to his watch.

He said there was a “very obvious” internal campaign for his ouster, suggesting that toes had been stepped on in the effort to clean up the BoC, seen by many as graft-ridden.

Missed revenue collections may also have been a factor. As of July the BoC had registered weaker year-on-year collections, netting P149.84 billion, down from last year’s P152.96 billion and missing the target of P170.72 billion.

As far as the business sector is concerned, however, Mr. Alvarez’s performance is fairly well regarded.

“For some of us in the business sector, he was okay, he did what he [could]… he has attended to our cares, and he has looked at Customs, not just as a funding agency but as a facilitator of trade… we just hope the replacement will be somebody who will look at the facilitation of trade,” Philippine Exporters Confederation, Inc. President Sergio R. Ortiz-Luis, Jr. said.

“As far as we know, he was doing his best, but we do not know everything that occurred. Perhaps the bureaucracy and culture in customs [were not for him],” he added.

Mr. Ortiz-Luis declined to express a preference for any of the purported replacements, saying he did “not know them in relation to the work of customs.”
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Source: Business World, August 30, 2011
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