Maniolas

(Updated 3:17 p.m.) Malacañang on Tuesday defended President Benigno Aquino III’s decision not to accept Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon’s resignation despite the President’s negative comments about the bureau on his State of the Nation Address (SONA). “As Commissioner Biazon had already shared on his Twitter account yesterday, the President’s response that the confidence remains, as both gentlemen know the challenges and as well as the limitations that are being faced by… Biazon in the Bureau of Customs, and that the confidence in the commissioner remains,” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said at a press briefing. The Bureau of Customs (BOC) was one of the three government agencies scolded by Aquino during his fourth SONA for supposed mediocre work. The others were the Bureau of Immigration and the National Irrigation Administration. Right after the SONA, Biazon, on his Twitter account, said he offered his resignation to Aquino but that the President said his confidence in him “remains the same.” The heads of the other agencies that were publicly berated by the President had either resigned or had not been reappointed. Biazon, for his part, said he will stay with the BOC as long as Aquino’s confidence in his remains. “Kung nandiyan pa ang kumpyansa ng pangulo, mananatili tayo,” he said in an interview on GMA News TV’s “News To Go” on Tuesday. Sacrificial lamb But he also expressed ambivalence, noting that he is thinking if keeping the post “is all worth it.” “Pinag-iisipan ko rin if this is all worth it Read More …