ni Argyll Cyrus B. Geducos at Leonel M. Abasola

Tinanggihan ni Pangulong Duterte ang hiling ni Bureau of Customs (BoC) Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon na sibakin na lang ito sa puwesto kaugnay ng P6.4-bilyon shabu na naipuslit sa bansa mula sa China may tatlong buwan na ang nakalipas.

Sa panayam sa kanya ng DZMM, sinabi ni Faeldon na sumulat na siya sa Pangulo kaugnay ng hinihiling niya ngunit “immediately” ay tinanggihan umano ito ni Duterte, sa pamamagitan ni Special Assistant to the President (SAP) Christopher Go, nitong Biyernes ng gabi.

“I already requested the President to fire me. I don’t want to give the President a hard decision to make so I volunteered to him,” sabi ni Faeldon. “I would like the public to know [that] I would like to give the President a free hand on this that’s why I’m volunteering, why I appealed to him to fire me. I put that in writing already.”

Bagamat una nang nanindigan na kumpiyansa siya sa integridad ni Faeldon, sinabi ng Pangulo na hindi siya makikialam sa isinasagawang imbestigasyon ng Kamara at Senado kaugnay ng usapin.

Samantala, iginiit naman ni Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon na magkaroon ng malawakang balasahan sa BoC dahil sa aniya’y kawalang kakayahang mamuno ng mga opisyal ng kawanihan.

“We can no longer trust the incompetence of its officials led by Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon. The government can no longer rely on the current leadership of the Bureau of Customs to collect taxes necessary to fund the government’s programs, particularly big-ticket infrastructure projects that the government has outlined under its ‘Build, Build, Build’ program,” ani Drilon.