Erwin TulfoIt is indeed saddening to learn that even during calamities, political affiliation or party lines exist.Thursday last week saw thousands of evacuees, including children and senior citizens, in Bacoor, Cavite waiting for hours for Pnoy and the government’s relief goods.Unfortunately, the President and his much-awaited goodies did not come.Bacoor Mayor Strike Revilla complained that he was advised by Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman the day before that the President will visit Bacoor the following day bringing with him bags of relief goods for distribution.Revilla, who belongs to the opposition, immediately alerted his social welfare officer and barangay officials to gather affected residents who need relief goods for Pnoy’s arrival the next day.Bacoor was the next town hardest hit by severe flooding caused by the monsoon rains and high tide after Noveleta.Surprisingly, Pnoy went to Imus instead, whose mayor is an ally of Malacanang. The President never set foot in Bacoor.Even Cavite Gov. Jonvic Remulla was surprised because he was not informed of the President’s visit and relief distribution in Imus.Remulla beat Malacanang’s gubernatorial candidate, Ayong Maliksi, during the elections in May.According to Revilla, he understands why Pnoy skipped his town that day. But what he can’t figure out is that even the relief goods promised to them by the DSWD did not arrive.This is disgusting Mr. President!***“Manzana”, “Nepo” lord it over in BOCIf Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon is really serious in cleaning up his bureau of corrupt personnel, he should start with these two officials who literally extort money from almost everyone doing business at the international ports.My mole at the bureau said these two, who are known as alias “DC Manzana” and “A. Nepo”, send chills to the spines of brokers and importers alike.Alias “DC Manzana” reportedly belongs to a unit tasked to go after smugglers but even legitimate importers and brokers have to cough up hundreds of thousands of pesos to “DC Manzana’s” so that their shipment will not be tagged suspicious cargo and undergo thorough inspection which will cause at least a week’s delay in its delivery to its consignee.“DC Manzana” and his men reportedly rake in P10 million a week in grease money or better known as”tara” in BOC lingo.Alias “A. Nepo”, on the other hand, is known to be a staffer at the Office of the Commissioner (OCOM), and claims to be responsible in alerting “DC Manzana” of suspicious cargoes.“A Nepo” collects P15 million a week from importers according to my mole. One wonders where or to whom does he remit all those money?As long as there are BOC employees like “DC Manzana” and “A. Nepo”, smuggling will continue in our ports despite Pnoy’s “tuwid na daan” policy.Sonof@#%&!
