When you’re in unfamiliar territory, it helps to have friends around you.
Bureau of Customs chief Nicanor Faeldon is assigning at least 20 former officers who were part of the Magdalo Group — responsible for the Oakwood Mutiny of 2003 — to various offices at the controversy-laden agency.
Expected to man frontline offices at the BOC are former officers Milo Maestrecampo, Alvin Ebreo, James Layug, and Gerardo Gambala, who were some of the most recognizable members of the Magdalo Group who decried alleged military corruption under the Arroyo administration in July 2003.
Along with Faeldon and Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, they are part of the Philippine Military Academy “Marilag” Class of 1995.
Faeldon said, “They will be embedded in the different collection districts.”
“Faeldon admitted that running a revenue-generating agency like the BOC was not his expertise. However, he added that he could surely provide the ‘leadership and the will to reform,'” reports June Veneracion on GMA News Online.
The report noted: “Faeldon likewise said he aimed to shorten the time needed to the release shipments at the country’s ports from five days down to just five hours, as long as there are no irregularities with the cargo.”
