Duterte puts customs under military control over failure to stop drug shipments

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte put the Bureau of Customs temporarily under military control after two large shipments of illegal drugs slipped past the agency through the port of Manila. Duterte made the announcement late Sunday in Davao City before an audience that included visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. The president cited “a state of lawlessness” that he declared following a deadly 2016 bombing to justify putting the military in control of the customs bureau, AP reported. The agency’s officials will be put on a “floating status” and be required to conduct their work in a gymnasium in the presidential palace complex, he said. Opposition politicians questioned the legality of the president’s move, citing the constitutional principle of the supremacy of civilian authority over the military.