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[av_heading heading=’Faeldon accuses Drilon of making ‘illegal request’ ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=” av-medium-font-size-title=” av-small-font-size-title=” av-mini-font-size-title=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” admin_preview_bg=”]
BY PRINCE GOLEZ
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January 30, 2018
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MANILA – Former Customs commissioner Nicanor Faeldon accused Ilonggo Senate minority leader Franklin Drilon of making an “illegal request” from him at the Bureau of Customs (BOC).
Drilon prodded him to sign a memorandum of agreement (MOA) between the BOC and the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) for the renovation of the Iloilo Customs House, Faeldon said during a Senate blue ribbon committee hearing yesterday.
The MOA, he added, stated that the heritage building would be converted into a museum while the offices of the bureau would occupy the third floor of the Iloilo Customs House.
Faeldon said he initially resisted but eventually signed the MOA but only after he “forcibly changed” the provisions of the agreement.
Drilon, however, said there was “nothing illegal” in the planned rehabilitation of the Iloilo Customs House on Muelle Loney Street, Iloilo City.
“The MOA aims to allow the NHCP to do the repairs. In fact the building is not even owned by the Bureau of Customs. The title is in the name of the Republic of the Philippines. (BOC is) just there by tolerance of the government,” said the senator from Iloilo City.
He added that the restoration project “is part of the Ilonggos’ collective desire to preserve and restore historical and heritage sites amid the ongoing rapid developments in the city and the province.”
According to him, the NHCP proposed to restore the structural components of the Iloilo Customs House, considered a heritage building, from funds appropriated under the 2016 General Appropriations Act.
“To restore the historical value of the Customs House, the NHCP has proposed to repurpose it as a museum on the history of the port of Iloilo, while the second floor continues to be occupied by the Bureau of Customs,” Drilon clarified.
Other NHCP restoration projects in Iloilo included the Casa Real de Iloilo (old provincial capitol), the Santa Barbara Church and Convent, Kerr and Company Building, the St. Anne Church in Molo, and St. Augustine Church in Dumangas./PN
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