seize the day, faeldon!

commissioner nick faeldon should stop with the threats to expose influence peddlers in congress (and elsewhere) and JUST DO IT,  name names!  otherwise he and his cohorts (yes, i remember them from oakwood, too) are proving to be all-bark-and-no-bite and only complicit with the scandalous corruption in the bureau of customs that has been going on like forever.

i’ve heard too many stories from family and friends who have had to deal with customs so napaka-credible sa akin ng info ni senator ping lacson re the payola, the lagayan, in aid of quick access to, or outright smuggling of, all kinds of goods, legit and / or not.

… “Open secret. Alam natin ang three o’clock habit, Friday,” Lacson said in a radio interview, referring to the alleged weekend practice at the BOC when bribes are supposedly divided.

Brokers, according to Lacson’s information, usually pay an average of P27,000 to P30,000 for payola per container. At least 10,000 containers pass through the Bureau every day.

“So P27,000 times 10,000, that’s P270 million per day. Payola ito. Tara lang ‘yan. ‘Pag multiply mo ng 365 [days], easily that’s P98.55 billion,” Lacson said.

“So kung P98.55 billion a year, payola lang ito…Ang budget deficit natin for this year so far [is] P147 billion. So dalawang taon pa lang, wiped out na ang budget deficit. Eh napupunta ito sa bulsa, di naman sa gobyerno,” he said.

but wait, there’s more, sey ni amy pamintuan ng philstar:

… a witness was forced to admit before the House inquiry that he gave BOC officials P27,000 as grease money for every shipping container waved through the “green lane” at the Port of Manila.

The amount is on top of the legitimate fee of P40,000 per container, according to Customs broker Mark Taguba, who imported a shipment from China in May that was found to contain 605 kilos of shabu valued at P6.4 billion. Taguba said he handled the release of 500 shipments through the BOC from March to May this year alone, although Customs officials said the actual figure is 630. That’s P17 million in bribes in just three months.

that’s a lot of money.  does all the 40K go to government?  if yes, great (but maybe not, no?).  27K per is still a lot, given the huge volume daily.  kaya pala, basta taga-customs, madatung, maraming kotse at bahay, panay ang biyahe, malaki ang tiyan, ang sarap ng buhay, ang saya-saya.  ang balita pa, parang dynasty dyan — by the time daw one retires, naipasok na ang anak, kapatid, pamangkin, inaanak.  mana mana.  all at the expense of nation.

isa pang tanong: are faeldon and his oakwood cohorts on the take na rin, like everybody else? sana hindi.  i like to think na bumubuwelo lang sila and that they will finally find the guts to name names, for starters.  no guts, no glory.

but on second thought, it’s not as if there is reason for optimism.  i just saw, listened to, faeldon with henry omaga diaz on dzmm teleradyo and nothing he said inspired confidence.  parang he’s more concerned with PR (public relations) and so we have popular athletes as agents of goodwill aka intel officers kuno.  nakakaloka.

also, parang prinoproblema niyang masyado yung mga mawawalan ng hanapbuhay kung sakaling magkaroon ng purge [my word], i suppose masyadong maraming tatamaan, please correct me if i misheard or misunderstood or read too much between the lines.

sa ganitong sitwasyon, hindi ba nararapat na ang mangibabaw ay ang kapakanan ng buong bayan, hindi ng iilan?  yes, change will be painful for some, pero siguro naman nakaipon na sila, nakapagpayaman na sila, lamang na lamang na, i mean, you know, puwede ba, bayan naman.

and, teka, ilan ba yung “less than 10” congressmen?  9?  2?  more than 5?  less than 5?  i’m so bitin.  it’s so lame, or should i say limp.  whatever.  may i say lang to the house of reps, please stop na with the executive sessions that only serve to protect yourselves.  we’re not all dumb.

anyway i’ve been expecting more from these oakwood guys.  i was looking forward to something as audacious as  the 2003 attempt to take over the arroyo government.  today, in the time of duterte, one can only wonder why faeldon and his men seem so timid and impotent.  surely, duterte has faeldon’s back?  surely, duterte would support a challenge to the status quo, even if only on the BOC front, for the sake of the country and the people he says he so loves?

or is everyone just joking pala.  paano na.