Beleaguered Coast Guard chief Vice Admiral
Edmund Tan will retire on Dec. 16
while serving a 90-day preventive suspension ordered by the Sandiganbayan in
connection with a 2009 graft case filed against him when he was still head of
the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) Visayas Area Command. In a statement, the PCG on Wednesday
quoted Tan as saying he still has strong faith in the country’s justice system
although in a democracy “due process really takes time.” “Our battles are not only in the field,
but also in the courts of law, where I learned that the attributes of courage
under fire and patience under adversity are as useful in a court room as they
are in an armed conflict. We all have to fight our own battles, especially as we
espouse the integrity of a serviceman as we thread the narrow path of a public
servant,” he also said. Tan, appointed on Jan. 24 as the PCG’s
24th commandant by President Aquino, has denied the accusations of wrongdoing.
The graft case stemmed from a complaint
filed in 2009 by Reynaldo Chua Jr., who accused Tan of causing him undue injury
by detaining his shipment of iron ore, which resulted in the businessman’s
having to pay some P500,000 in docking penalties at the Pagadian City port. Tan was at the time chief of the PCG
Visayas Area Command. He said he detained the ship LCT Kapitan, which was
transporting Chua’s iron ore cargo on the basis of an injunction order
supposedly issued by a court in Iligan City. The Ombudsman said Tan had presented a
fictitious temporary restraining order issued against the iron ore cargo.” But in his remarks at the PMA event, Tan
explained there was basis for the PCG to hold the ship.
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