The Bureau of Customs is currently embroiled in a scandal. Allegations of corruption. Bribery. Declarations that the swamp needs to be drained and all the bad apples let go. Same old same old. What bureaucracy of the Philippine government is free from the slightest tint of corruption?
This recent round of scandal started with an investigation into the 6 billion pesos worth of shabu which made it through customs back in May.
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| http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/919029/senate-probes-p6-b-drug-smuggling-through-customs |
The most interesting tidbit to emerge from this investigation is the fact that the Bureau of Customs hired basketball players to gather intelligence for the bureau.
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| http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/920484/philippine-news-updates-commissioner-nicanor-faeldon-retired-athletes-bureau-of-customs-drug-smuggling-scandal-kenneth-duremdes-marlou-aquino |
Embattled Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon on Friday defended his decision to hire almost 30 active and retired athletes as customs “technical assistants,” saying they were the “most effective intelligence information gatherers.”
“That’s precisely why they are there … because nobody expects them to be gathering information for the bureau … None of you will ever expect that they are part of the organization,” Faeldon told a press briefing.
“But today, they are no longer effective because they have been exposed. They will never be effective. Their covers have been exposed,” he said.
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| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIzFuycHn_0 |
Secret agent basketball players. Brilliant! Who would ever expect it? "Most effective intelligence information gatherers?" Wow. What sort of intelligence did they gather that proved their effectiveness?
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| http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/920917/athletes-say-they-receive-p40k-salary-as-customs-intelligence-officers |
A Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) athlete said he has been receiving a salary of up to P40,000 from the Bureau of Customs (BOC) as an intelligence consultant, contributing to the agency’s “image-building.”
During the resumption of the House committee on dangerous drugs’ inquiry on the P6.4 billion shipment of drugs into the country on Monday, basketball star Edward Joseph “EJ” Fiehl said they receive a monthly pay of P40,000 through a Landbank payroll account.
Asked by Quezon City Rep. Winston Castelo if he had provided any intelligence information to the bureau, Fiehl said none.
Fiehl then explained that his function as BOC employee was to help promote the agency to the public.
Aside from Fiehl, stars Kenneth Duremdes, Marlou Aquino, among others, as well as volleyball player Alyssa Valdez were hired by the BOC as either intelligence officers or technical consultants.
Duremdes said Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon personally hired him to the BOC.
Other players said Duremdes contacted them about the job opportunity.
Duremdes said as BOC employees, the athletes are doing community work to convince the public that the BOC is no longer corruption-ridden.
Anderson confirmed that the athletes were hired as technical assistant for special activities by Faeldon himself
“The commissioner put in a lot of projects. Whatever he does is good for the bureau,” she said.
But she admitted that although the athletes were not qualified to carry out intelligence work on smuggling, they provide intelligence work by getting “feedback from people on what they want customs to do.”
These basketball players did not provide any intelligence and yet Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon testified just the opposite! Isn't that perjury?
These basketball players were hired to do PR work to convince the public that bureau was no longer corrupt and to get "feedback from people on what they want customs to do." That is not gathering intelligence. That is Public Relations. These basketball players might as well have been going door to door with surveys or doing cold-calls from a phone bank. It's bad enough that these so-called professional athletes are nothing more than living, breathing advertisements for coffee, hot dogs, and car wax. PBA is first and foremost an advertising vehicle. But to sell yourself to the government? And one of the most corrupt governments in the world at that!
They were paid to convince the public that a single bureau of one of the most corrupt governments in the world is no longer corrupt. You can't make this up!
Why does this government agency, or any other government agency, need PR work? It's not as if if you can avoid going through customs when you arrive from another country or if you receive shipments from overseas. The whole idea that the Bureau of Customs needs image builders to promote the agency to the public as being no longer corruption-ridden is ridiculous. The public already knows that the whole government is corrupt. The fact that these unqualified athletes were hired to gather intelligence but did nothing of the sort and that Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon lied about it to Congress shows just how corrupt and wasteful the Bureau of Customs actually is.
They were paid to convince the public that a single bureau of one of the most corrupt governments in the world is no longer corrupt. You can't make this up!
Why does this government agency, or any other government agency, need PR work? It's not as if if you can avoid going through customs when you arrive from another country or if you receive shipments from overseas. The whole idea that the Bureau of Customs needs image builders to promote the agency to the public as being no longer corruption-ridden is ridiculous. The public already knows that the whole government is corrupt. The fact that these unqualified athletes were hired to gather intelligence but did nothing of the sort and that Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon lied about it to Congress shows just how corrupt and wasteful the Bureau of Customs actually is.
So does the fact that BoC officials were bribed in order to get all that shabu into the country.
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| http://news.abs-cbn.com/news/08/07/17/customs-broker-names-officials-allegedly-pocketing-bribes |
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