Is President Rodrigo Duterte serious?
After the Philippines’ Bureau of Customs (BOC) was accused of failing to intercept four magnetic lifters that allegedly contained shabu (methamphetamine), Duterte promoted the BOC’s chief Isidro Lapeña as director general of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).
Duterte announced the former general’s appointment yesterday during a speech at the 117th anniversary of the Philippine Coast Guard in Port Area, Manila, reported the Philippine Star.
Lapeña is replacing the current director general of TESDA, Guiling Mamondiong, who will leave to run for governor of Lanao del Sur.
Duterte said: “General Lapeña, I will move to TESDA. I will promote you to a Cabinet position.”
The unbelievable action was naturally met with gratitude by Lapeña, who was quoted by ABS-CBN News for saying: “I’m given another job. That’s a promotion, cabinet secretary. I would like to thank the President for another opportunity to serve in another capacity.”
The controversy surrounding Lapeña and the BOC started in August when four empty magnetic lifters were found in General Mariano Alvarez, Cavite by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).
The PDEA said that the lifters may have contained PHP6.8-billion (US$126.451 million) worth of illegal drugs but Lapeña, in-charge of the agency that should have intercepted the machines, insisted that there weren’t any meth found in them.
Duterte himself dismissed the PDEA’s suspicion and called it pure speculation, but the BOC’s former X-ray Inspection Project chief Lourdes Mangaoang said that indeed, drugs were detected from the lifters in Cavite.
The saga even became more convoluted when Lapeña made an about-face and admitted this week during a hearing with the House of Representatives that there might have been shabu in the empty lifters.
Meanwhile, former military chief Rey Guerrero, currently the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) Administrator, will become the BOC’s new head, reported Rappler.
While Lapeña got a promotion, his colleagues at the BOC were dismissed by Duterte.
Rappler quoted the president saying: “Everyone will be out, to the last man — the commissioners are out, the department heads [are] out.”
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