Customs chief Lapena refuses to quit

October 25, 2018

Embattled Bureau of Customs (BOC) Commissioner Isidro Lapena has no plan to quit from his job as he has to finish President Rodrigo Duterte's marching orders - to stop corruption and to raise more revenue.

In a press briefing in Malacanang on Thursday, Lapena said he still has a lot of things to do in the BOC.

"The President placed me there to accomplish a job, a mission and that is to stop corruption and increase revenue collection. And I have been delivering and I still have to do a lot to accomplish that mission," he said when asked of his reaction on the call for him to resign.

Lapena and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Director General Aaron Aquino were engaged in a public squabble over the alleged entry of P6.8 billion illegal drugs concealed in four empty magnetic lifters found in Cavite last August.

PDEA insisted that shabu slipped past the Customs, while Lapena had said that there was no shabu from the lifters.

However, in a House inquiry on Wednesday, Lapena changed his tune, agreeing that the lifters could have really contained illegal drugs.

Lapena said he changed his position following the technical examination on magnetic lifters conducted by the Bureau of Equipment of the Department of Public Works and Highways ( DPWH).

He said that based on the DPWH's explanation, the magnetic lifters were not capable of carrying scrap metal, but was designed to conceal cargo inside it.

"That is why when that was presented, that is a convincing circumstantial evidence that made me believe that the four magnetic lifters really contained (illegal drugs). That is why I changed my position," he explained.

PDEA has said that the content of the magnetic lifters could even be higher than the initial estimate of P6.8 billion. It has said the amount could have been P11 billion.

But Lapena said he was not sure of PDEA's new computation.

"But we take that very seriously, that is why we have to concentrate our efforts in going after the drug syndicate and go after the shipments that slipped past (the BOC)," he said.

President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday asked Lapena and Aquino to stop blaming each other and instead go after the drug syndicates.

He also ordered the arrest of former Customs intelligence officer Jimmy Guban, who was allegedly involved in illegal drug smuggling.

Guban has been under the Senate custody since he testified in an inquiry regarding the magnetic lifters.

Guban would continue to be under the Senate custody while investigation has not been terminated yet. Celerina Monte/DMS