The Philippine Bureau of Customs (BOC) said there is no truth to rumors that Customs commissioner Nicanor Faeldon will be replaced as head of the agency.
“BOC denies the rumors as mere fabrications to undermine his outstanding accomplishments in revenue collection, in anti-corruption and in the fight against drugs and merchandise smuggling,” the agency said in a statement.
“We are confident that Commissioner Faeldon still enjoys the trust and confidence of the leadership,” it added, considering the agency’s total revenue collection for 2016 reached 97% of the target of P409 billion. The December 2016 collection also overshot its goal by 100.2%. The drugs haul for last year likewise hit close to P2 billion.
Unverified text messages have been circulating that a certain “Victorino”, said to be someone close to the Office of the President, has been named as Faeldon’s replacement. BOC said the rumor began to circulate after reforms in the agency were “felt especially in revenue collection, anti-corruption, and anti-smuggling campaigns.”
The BOC statement said, “This issue has been circulating since last year, and a lot of names have been dropped to take the BOC chief’s post. But they all remained to be mere disinformation.”
