President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to take over the operations of the Bureau of Customs (BOC).
The BOC is currently being linked to drug-smuggling issues after some P11 billion worth of shabu allegedly slipped through the bureau’s screening.
“With these kinds of games they are playing, dirty games, I am forced now to ask the Armed Forces to take over,” said Duterte.
He added that all employees of BOC will temporarily be on floating status and replaced by the AFP, as reported by ABS-CBN News.
“The Customs intelligence unit, they are to report to Malacañang, all of them. I’m ordering everybody to report to my office. Maybe I’ll issue the memorandum. They will hold office there at the Malacañang Gymnasium. Lahat,” Duterte said.
The president clarified that while not everyone working for the Customs is corrupt, he decided to remove all employees for now and let them return to their posts after proven innocent.
Former AFP Chief Rey Guerrero is taking over the BOC after Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapeña was transferred to the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) last week.
