Duterte appoints new Customs officials

MANILA, Philippines – Former officials of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) have been appointed to key positions at the Bureau of Customs (BOC) vacated by officials who were linked to corruption last year.

President Rodrigo Duterte appointed Joeffrey Comising Tacio, former PDEA Region 1 director, as Imports Assessment Service (IAS) director, replacing Milo Maestrecampo.

Former PDEA Region 11 director Adzhar Aidaus Albani was appointed as chief of the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service (CIIS), replacing Neil Anthony Estrella.

Duterte also appointed former Philippine National Railways director Noel Patrick Sales Prudente as Deputy Commissioner, taking over the post left by Gerardo Gambala of the BOC Management Information System Technology Group (MISTG).

Estrella, Gambala, and Maestrecampo were implicated in the P6.4-billion shabu shipment from China last year, and were also included in Senator Panfilo Lacson’s list of BOC officials who received tara or grease money. The 3 had denied the allegations.

The 3 former BOC officials resigned from the revenue agency after the congressional hearings on the shabu shipment in August last year. Months later, Duterte appointed Maestrecampo and Gambala to positions in the Department of Transportation. (READ: TIMELINE: How P6.4B worth of shabu was smuggled into PH from China)

Duterte also appointed Fernando Acosta Tuason as Director II, replacing Carmelita Crisologo, while Yogi Filemon Lasala Ruiz – former PDEA Region 7 director – was appointed as Director III, replacing Edna Cruz. 

Duterte signed the appointment papers of the new appointees on February 6. The documents were later transmitted to the Department of Finance. – Rappler.com

Photo from Wikimedia Commons/Wikipedia Takes Manila