Ni BETHEENA KAE UNITE
Kinumpirma ni Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapeña na sinibak niya sa puwesto ang walong district commander ng Customs Intelligence Investigation Service (CIIS), at pinabalik sa Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) ang interim director nitong si Wilkins Villanueva.
Napaulat na sinibak ang mga district commander ng CIIS dahil sa “non-performance” ng kanilang tungkulin.
Sa isang hindi malinaw na pahayag, sinabi rin ni Lapeña na ilan sa mga nasabing district commander ay pinabalik din niya sa PDEA.
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Gayunman, hindi pinangalanan ni Lapeña ang mga sinibak na opisyal.
“They were moved. I want better result from them as we go along. That is what I have been saying, one strike policy, when they are not doing their duties properly then they will get it,” babala pa ni Lapeña.
“They are supposed to be giving information because that is their job, but the information that I receive came from other sources which turned out to be positive. In Cebu, 160 container vans were all positive but it did not come from the CIIS,” paliwanag pa ng hepe ng Bureau of Customs (BoC).
‘WARNING: THERE WILL BE MORE’
Dahil dito, muling nagbabala si Lapeña sa mga opisyal ng kawanihan na nagpapatuloy sa kanilang mga ginagawang katiwalian, at nangakong maraming iba pang opisyal ang aalisin niya sa puwesto.
“And there will be more... We will be relieving them. We do not care who they are. Kakilala man o hindi, I do not care. ‘Pagka kakilala ko at mali ‘yung ginagawa niya, dapat siya ang mahiya,” babala ni Lapeña. “This should be a warning to them.”
BALIK-PDEA
Kasabay nito, kaagad namang nilinaw ni Lapeña na umalis si Villanueva sa BoC bilang officer-in-charge ng CIIS dahil mas kailangan ito sa PDEA. Aniya, ang pagbabalik ni Villanueva sa ahensiya ay “mutual understanding between the two agencies”.
“Director Wilkins returned back to the PDEA because he was needed there. PDEA needs more men especially they were left on their own (sa mga operasyon kontra droga),” sinabi ni Lapeña sa press briefing sa Port of Manila nitong Martes, ilang oras bago ipag-utos ni Pangulong Rodrigo Duterte ang pagbabalik ng Philippine National Police (PNP) sa drug war, bilang katuwang ng PDEA.
“It is a mutual understanding of the head of PDEA and me. He (Villanueva) understands that he needs to be back at the PDEA,” ani Lapeña, nilinaw na ang pag-alis ni Villanueva ay “not because of low performance.”
“It was not the basis of the decision to return him (Villanueva) to the PDEA. It was still too early to say (tungkol sa performance nito sa BoC) kasi two months pa lang siya,” paliwanag ni Lapeña, at sinabing walang “hard feelings” sa pagitan nila.
