(Eagle News) — Former Customs commissioner Isidro Lapeña has officially started his new job as director general of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) after taking his oath before President Rodrigo Duterte.
In his speech before he turned over his former job to former MARINA administrator Rey Leonardo Guerrero on Wednesday, Oct. 31, Lapeña insisted he had tried to institute reforms at the controversial Bureau of Customs, even as he admitted that “there may have been lapses in the systems and operations.”
He claimed he had tried his best to investigate the illegal drug smuggling at the problematic bureau.
“I believe that I have done and acted what I needed to do and what the BOC should do as far as this case is concerned. I just maintained my silence out of respect to the ongoing investigations being conducted in both houses, (of Congress),” Lapeña said in his speech during the turnover ceremonies on the BOC leadership.
Lapeña said that he had tried to fight corruption in BOC by removing the tara system, as well as the “pasalubong” system.
“But with what I told you 14 months ago, to do away with ‘tara’ and stop the practice of ‘no pasalubong,’ ‘no gift and no take’ policy… these are the very same policies that I have also followed,” he said.
He said that he had also increased the revenue collection at the bureau.
He said the bureau had collected P52.4 billion in September, hitting its target for the 8th straight month, and that it had even exceeded its P51.956 billion target in September by P464 million.
He claimed that the September collection was 30.2 percent higher than the P40.26 billion collected in the same month last year.
But Lapeña said that the incident of tons of shabu slipping past the bureau under his watch prompted him to investigate the matter more intensively.
“The latest controversy which involved drug importation concealed in magnetic lifters has also prompted me to create teams to conduct investigations, which resulted in uncovering of their modus, and unmasking of drug syndicates lurking in government agencies, especially their connection in BOC,” he said.
“As a result, we had filed both administrative and criminal cases against those involved personalities,” he said.
To the end, he defended his administration of the customs bureau, even as he received flak for how some P11 billion worth of shabu had gone past Customs.
He strong denied that he had been involved in corruption at the bureau.
“I strongly believe, that at the end, the truth will prevail,” he said.