AMID reports that former Rep. Rufino Biazon will take over the Bureau of Customs (BOC), Malacañang said on Wednesday that Customs Commissioner Angelito Alvarez remains the head of the agency.
Deputy Presidential Spokesman Abigail Valte, meanwhile, announced the appointment of former Bukidnon Rep. Nereus Acosta as Presidential Adviser for Environmental Protection under the Office of the President.
“The President is not aware of the resignation of Commissioner Lito Alvarez,” Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda said in a text message amid reports that Alvarez has resigned and that Biazon would replace him.
As far as Mr. Aquino is concerned, Lacierda said, Alvarez is still the customs chief.
Biazon is among the Liberal Party senatorial candidates who ran but lost in the May 2010 elections. He has long been rumored to get a position in the Aquino administration after the one-year ban on the appointment of also-rans had lapsed.
Calls for Alvarez’s removal have been mounting the past few weeks following reports about the disappearance of hundreds of container vans of highly dutiable goods.
Alvarez had described as “unjust and undeserved” the calls for his removal.
At the House of Representatives on Wednesday, minority members were wondering why the Aquino administration, which was quick in persecuting political foes, was not lifting a finger on the supposed anomalies at the BOC.
“Even as the mystery of the almost 2,000 missing container vans ferrying P3-billion dutiable goods has been unraveled with the identification of the suspected beneficiary and the reported complicity of ranking officials of the Bureau of Customs, the Aquino administration has been ominously silent on the caper compared to the reckless cacophony it generates in cases linking political foes,” said Lakas-Kampi-CMD Rep. Maria Milagros Magsaysay of Zambales in a news conference.
The House Ways and Means Committee earlier said about P3.6 billion in taxes was lost following the disappearance of 1,910 container vans loaded with high-duty rice and sugar shipments from the BOC.
The House panel discovered that the BOC also failed to collect P180,000 in customs duties from 2,219 vans transshipped to the Port of Batangas from the Port of Manila and the Manila International Container Port from January to May.
The House minority also filed a resolution calling for an investigation of the annual loss of as much as P120 billion in customs duties due to technical smuggling by one of the three major oil companies.
On Acosta’s appointment, Valte said the former congressman was a known environment advocate who could help in the administration’s environmental thrusts.
“We believe he can help the President, taking into consideration his skills,” Valte said about Acosta’s qualifications.
Acosta, who was earlier considered for the environment portfolio, also ran for senator in the May 2010 elections, under the Liberal Party ticket.
(With Fernan Marasigan)
