BOC CHIEF ALVAREZ VOWS TO FIGHT OUSTER MOVES
MANILA, MAY 30, 2011 (STAR) By Helen Flores - Beleaguered Customs Commissioner Angelito Alvarez vowed yesterday to fight moves by his detractors to oust him, even as he said he is ready to leave his post whenever President Aquino asks him to.
"I would like to assure everybody that until the President tells me my time is up, there will be no letup in my campaign to plant the seeds of reform and renewal in the Bureau of Customs (BOC)," Alvarez said in a statement following reports that he may be removed as BOC chief due to the reported rampant smuggling of luxury vehicles and motorcycles in Mindanao.
He also maintained that the alleged smuggling of luxury cars and motorcycles in Mindanao "did not happen under my watch so it is the height of cruelty for people with vested interests to make me pay for somebody else's sin of commission."
"The fight for principled governance will continue, the controversy being stirred by my detractors notwithstanding," he said.
Alvarez said certain groups had been waging a hate campaign against him for his reforms at the BOC, but did not give details on who wants him removed.
Reports said Alvarez might be replaced by Aquino's party-mates in the Liberal Party, former Camarines Norte congresswoman Liwayway Vinzons-Chato or former Cagayan Rep. Manuel Mamba.
In a recent hearing of the House sub-committee on Customs and Related Laws, Alvarez said Land Transportation Office (LTO) Region IX director Esteban Baltazar said that the vehicles seized by the National Bureau of Investigation from businessman Lynard Allan Bigcas were registered at their offices in Tubud, Lanao del Norte and Molave, Zamboanga del Sur in 2009 and the early part of 2010.
He said Bigcas himself claimed in an earlier congressional hearing that the controversial P3.4-million Martin Brothers chopper allegedly stolen from Hollywood screenwriter Skip Woods had been parked in his father's house for almost three years as reflected in the minutes of that meeting.
"Since I have been in office for only 11 months, the obvious conclusion is that those vehicles cleared customs long before my appointment as Customs Commissioner," Alvarez said.
"Given a clear conscience, I believe I am in a good position to get to the bottom of this smuggling mess not only to make the guilty parties pay for their crime but also, and just as importantly, to ensure that reforms are implemented and safeguards put in place to ensure that something like this does not happen again," he said.
He said under his administration, the agency has been breaking all collection highs achieved by all former BOC commissioners.
In the March 2011 Pulse Asia survey, the BOC was ranked no. 7 among the most corrupt government institutions, from a former ranking of no. 2 he said.
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