Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon should read between the lines: President Noy wants him to have an honorable exit by resigning.
Biazon should take the cue from presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda鈥檚 statement that calls for Biazon鈥檚 resignation should best be directed at the beleaguered customs commissioner.
Biazon鈥檚 failure to curb the rampant smuggling of petroleum products under his watch has sparked calls for his resignation even from the President鈥檚 political allies.
鈥淢aybe, Commissioner Biazon should answer that question himself,鈥� was Lacierda鈥檚 reply to questions whether the President had asked the customs chief to resign.
Biazon should not wait for the President to tell him to his face he鈥檚 no longer needed.
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A Palace source told me the President has been stung by reports of rampant smuggling of rice despite the fact the country is about to reach self-sufficiency level.
鈥淎nd now, the smuggling of petroleum products!鈥� said the source.
鈥淪umasakit na ang ulo ni Presidente (The President is having a headache),鈥� the source said, referring to the reports of smuggling.
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Biazon seems to be clueless about what鈥檚 happening on his own turf, the second biggest revenue-generating agency of the government.
It was the President who informed Biazon about the huge smuggled rice shipment at Subic Freeport that resulted in a Senate investigation, the Palace source said.
鈥淲hy did the information (of rice smuggling at Subic) have to come from the President? Why couldn鈥檛 Biazon have found it on his own?鈥� said the source.
That鈥檚 what the President gets for appointing a boy who鈥檚 still wet behind the ears in an agency full of crooks.
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My sources in the customs bureau and in the oil industry say the biggest oil smugglers in the country (apart from Pilipinas Shell, which was mentioned in Thursday鈥檚 On Target) are the following:
One has depots in Davao and Subic; another聽 has a depot in Bataan; one firm also maintains聽 a depot in聽 Subic and the last one operates in Misamis Oriental.
The current furor over the rampant smuggling of oil products stemmed from a complaint by Ramon S. Ang, chair and chief executive officer of Petron, the country鈥檚 biggest oil refiner, that about one in every three liters of gasoline or diesel is smuggled into the country.
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The ignorant and the unlettered should be disenfranchised of the right to vote.
They should enjoy all the rights under the Constitution, except the right to vote.
Voting should be enjoyed only by citizens who have discernment on local and national issues.
The ignorant and the unlettered are responsible for voting into office people like them.
These people sell their votes for a measly sum.
These people don鈥檛 think; they vote for candidates whose names聽 are dictated to them by others聽 taking advantage of聽 the fact that they are virtually clueless about what these people stand for.
Or, they vote for candidates based on their popularity, and not on their knowledge of issues.