NEWLY appointed Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence Danilo Lim of the Bureau of Customs (BOC), who took his oath of office on Thursday, is determined to help the government pin down smugglers, Malacañang said.
Lim, who ran for senator in 2010 but lost, said in a news conference that he did not think twice when the job was offered to him by President Aquino, despite the reputation of the agency as the most corrupt among the government departments.
“This is not an easy job, but I accept the challenge. I am but a good soldier asked by the President to help his administration,” Lim, a retired military general, said.
He said the issue on the thousands of missing container vans was a failure of the agency’s intelligence operation as the post has been vacant for more than a year. “But it cannot be used as an excuse for smuggling. We have to stop this bad practice,” he said.
Lim, who led the Makati siege in 1989 during the Cory Aquino administration and also the 2003 Oakwood mutiny, said he looks forward to working with the new customs chief, former Muntinlupa Rep. Rozanno Rufino Biazon.
In Malacañang Spokesman Edwin Lacierda said this was the instruction given by President Aquino to Lim.
“He [Mr. Aquino] met with Deputy Commissioner Danny Lim and his role is to monitor the intelligence on smuggling…. Any instruction made by the President is directed toward his role as looking for intelligence as to who are the smugglers and make sure that appropriate actions be taken against the smugglers,” Lacierda said.
Lacierda also said former Customs Commissioner Angelito Alvarez was to have submitted his resignation to give way to Biazon, who is to assume the post on Friday.
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By: Mia M. Gonzalez, VG Cabuag
Source: Business Mirror, Sept.15, 2011
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