Sue them all
Now that the accused has turned the tables on the accuser, what will happen to the Senate probe on corruption in the Bureau of Customs? Yesterday, two days after dropping his bombshell and disclosing the alleged rogues’ gallery in the BOC, Sen. Panfilo Lacson remained on the defensive, distancing himself from the business of his son Panfilo “Pampi” Jr. while at the same time giving his son the benefit of the doubt.
At the House of Representatives, a panel conducting its own probe recommended the filing of charges against outgoing BOC Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon and his chief of staff Mandy Anderson, who had earlier called Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez an “imbecile” in a Facebook post.
Lacson, in his exposé, had named BOC officials led by Faeldon as recipients of bribes and regular payola. An importer had earlier claimed he paid P5 million in grease money to a man who claimed to be a conduit to President Duterte’s son, Davao City Mayor Paolo Duterte. Faeldon, in hitting back the next day at Lacson, accused the senator’s son of cement smuggling. In a press conference Faeldon held at his house to show that he lived modestly, he also claimed that shortly after he assumed the top BOC post, a businessman had offered him P300,000 as weekly “gift.”
If that story is true, it was a clear case of attempted bribery, and Faeldon, being a public official, should have initiated the filing of a criminal case against the businessman. He also presented a letter from a cement industry association, accusing Lacson’s son and namesake of being the country’s top cement smuggler. The senator said his son denied this. But the accusation has been hurled openly, and Faeldon should also push for the filing of appropriate charges against Pampi Lacson.
Meanwhile, formal probes should also be conducted on the charges made by Senator Lacson in his speech as well as the allegations hurled by the importers linked to the smuggling of P6.4 billion worth of shabu from China.
The confiscation of the shabu in Valenzuela paved the way for the opening of the BOC can of worms. It should result in two things. One is the prosecution of those involved in drug trafficking and smuggling as well as corruption in the BOC – regardless of who gets hurt. The second is the implementation of reforms to minimize if not eradicate corruption in the bureau.
