(Eagle News) — Two Bureau of Customs officials who resigned after they were dragged by a fixer into corruption in the BoC have been appointed to other agencies, but only to handle security matters.
President Rodrigo Duterte appointed Milo Maestrecampo, former BoC Imports and Assessments director, as assistant director general II of the Department of Transportation-attached Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, and former Customs Deputy Commissioner Gerardo Gambala, as director IV of the DoTR’s Office for Transportation Security.
The appointments were announced by Duterte in letters dated Nov. 6.
Although fixer Mark Taguba said Maestrecampo was among those from the IAS who received bribes from him, he later clarified he never personally met the then-IAS director, nor gave the supposed money personally to him.
But in August, Maestrecampo went ahead and tendered his resignation in a letter to Duterte, noting that “it was too late” since he was already dragged into the mess.
“In order to fight for my honor and integrity and in the name of ‘delicadeza,’ I hereby tender my resignation and submit to investigations in order to clear my name,” Maestrecampo said.
Gambala for his part resigned to focus on his family after he was also implicated by Taguba.
Earlier, Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, a Magdalo soldier, was quoted as vouching for the integrity of his fellow Magdalo soldiers Gambala and Maestrecampo.