In an obviously knee-jerk reaction to another case involving the smuggling of billions of pesos worth of shabu through the Bureau of Customs, President Duterte ordered last week the placement of the corrupt agency under military control.
Fuming mad over the recently discovered P11-billion shabu shipment that escaped the scrutiny of Customs personnel, Duterte also placed the entire Customs police on floating status.
Duterte, who has appointed around 70 retired military and PNP personnel to his Cabinet and other government agencies since his assumption of office in 2016, justified anew his preference for military men, saying they obey orders promptly unlike some civilians in the bureaucracy who question their superiors.
Indeed, like a true soldier, AFP chief of staff Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr. ordered the next day a contingent “of unquestionable integrity” from the army, air force, navy and marines to be organized to comply with Duterte’s order.
The order for military takeover came as he named another retired general, former AFP chief of staff Gen. Rey Leonardo Guerrero as Customs commissioner to replace another military man, former PNP chief Isidro Lapena, who in turn replaced another military man, retired Marine Capt. Nicanor Faeldon.
Lapena was burned by a P6.8-billion and P11-billion shabu smuggling scandals that rocked the Customs bureau, just a few months after Faeldon himself was stung by a P6.4-billion shabu smuggling fiasco. His faith in the honesty and competence in military officers undiminished, Duterte is now hoping another retired general would do wonders for the corruption-ridden agency.
Nobody questions the military’s discipline and ability to follow orders almost blindly, as cited by the President, but will they have enough time to learn the ropes considering that customs operations are among the most complicated tasks in the government? The customs bureau performs three vital functions in our economy: revenue collection, trade facilitation and anti-smuggling operations.
Under a temporary setup, military personnel will be tasked to inspect and clear container vans in Manila and other Philippine ports. Some will be trained to operate X-ray machines used to screen cargos.
These are tasks not easy to learn, and to assign inexperienced soldiers to handle these things, among other tasks, is to risk chaos and delays in the release of cargos at a time when the ports are busiest because of the holiday season when both incoming and outgoing shipments are at their peak.
Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said new Customs chief will be allowed to enlist select AFP officers to help him run the bureau. This runs in conflict with a constitutional provision that prohibits active military officer from being appointed in any capacity to a civilian position in the government.
Duterte also said during his speech that release of import documents will need the signatures of three military officers, and yet, Malacanang said it was not really a “military takeover” that the President ordered, but only “intimidation.” Authorizing military officers to sign and allow the release of shipments are clearly functions of customs civilian personnel and not of military officers. Also, how the military will “intimidate” corrupt customs personnel and importers is not clear.
These confusing statements seem to show that there is no clear plan on how to implement Duterte’s order and even the two Cabinet members who will be most affected by the order — Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez and Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana – were taken by surprise by the order although eventually, like good soldiers, they said it will do good for the agency.
Is there any guarantee that the military officers to be assigned to Customs will not in due time also turn a blind eye to all the nefarious activities going on on a daily basis at the agency? At least two retired generals expressed doubt.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson, a former PNP chief and now chairman of the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs, said the Duterte administration should learn from history and establish a focused counter-intelligence system to curb corruption and prioritize leadership by example. Such moves, he said, can help curb corruption without having to tap military officers.
“In the early ‘60s, some young, idealistic AFP officers were put in charge of the BOC operations. They learned fast, they couldn’t be bribed or intimidated. The smugglers used equally young, beautiful women to influence them. The rest is history we don’t want to remember,” Lacson said.
Lacson was referring to the time of Customs Commissioner Cesar Climaco in 1962 when the popular graft-buster enlisted several young AFP officers to rid the agency of corruption. Former Sen. Rene Saguisag, now a Manila Times columnist, said of the recruits: “They were simply taken to Nautilus, a nightclub on Roxas Blvd., where the new soldiers — with raging hormones — were naughty, and the girls were loose. Nautilus indeed. Incorruptible Cesar had to give up.”
Sen. Antonio Trillanes, a former Marine officer, was worried, on the other hand, that the endemic corruption at the BOC might even contaminate the AFP.
While other presidents have appointed retired military officers to the government, Duterte by far has appointed the most number of military men – around 70 in just two years! These military men are all over the Duterte government. Some of them are Hermogenes Esperon (National Security Adviser), Delfin Lorenzana (Defense), Roy Cimatu (Environment), Eduardo Año (DILG); recently retired Army chief Maj. Gen. Rolando Bautista (DSWD), Eduardo del Rosario (Housing and Bangon Marawi Task Force), Isidro Lapeña (TESDA); and Glorioso Miranda (Bases Conversion and Development Authority), Jason Aquino (NFA), Rey Guerrero (Customs), Danilo Lim (MMDA), and many more in various agencies and government corporations.
It appears combatting corruption is not really the reason Duterte wants retired military officers in government. In a speech in June 2017 before the Army’s 603rd Brigade in Maguindanao province, the President said, “I’m looking for security.”
That says it all. The President is appointing military officers to key government positions to earn their loyalty and protecting from the foremost fear that has characterized his presidency, the fear of being ousted in a military coup.
He is following the example of his idol, the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos, who appointed several retired military officers to government positions both as a reward for their loyalty and as an incentive to ensure their loyalty. We know, of course, that despite the presence of military officers in his more than 20 years in power, the Marcos reign remains the most corrupt administrations in the country’s history.
The point is that appointing military men cannot be a surefire solution to the country’s bureaucratic and corruption woes. Duterte has appointed around 70 military and PNP officers in almost sectors of government since he assumed office more than two years ago, and yet corruption continues to be the biggest problem confronting his administration.
Clearly, the militarization of the government is not the answer.
(valabelgas@aol.com)
