BOC's dragon lady vows to fight smuggling

MANILA, Philippines - The perennial problem of smuggling has hounded the Bureau of Customs (BOC) for decades.

Indeed, the fight against smugglers is an uphill one, thanks, but no thanks to the political clout of these players and the connivance with some Customs insiders.

But initiatives to fight smuggling are in place and one such project is the X-Ray Inspection project (XIP) of the Bureau of Customs headed by Ma. Lourdes Mangaoang, a feisty lawyer, known to some smugglers as the dragon lady.

The XIP celebrated last month its 5th anniversary, marking its success in apprehending a wide-range of goods, which smugglers attempted to bring in the different ports of the country.

In an interview with The STAR, Mangaoang said the additional collections coming from the XIP project amounted to P41 billion in 2007; P21.2 billion in 2008; P11.20 billion in 2009; P15.7 billion in 2010 and P9.46 billion in 2011.

“Thus for the first five years, the XIP has played a major role in the collection of a total of P98.56 billion additional duties and taxes in the various collection districts in the country,” the XIP said in a report.

The number of shipments found to contain various anomalies has also been increasing during the five-year period because of X-ray scanning.

“The presence of X-ray machines being deployed in the major ports of entry in the country has significantly improved the anti-smuggling campaign of the bureau and their presence serves as a warning to the unscrupulous importers and brokers that the bureau has a firm resolve to protect the welfare of legitimate traders in particular and the interest of the country as a whole,” the XIP report also said.

“This shows that in just the five-year period of our operation, such doubt has been proven to be unfounded by the number of seizures made and amount of additional duties and taxes realized as a result of X-ray scanning of cargoes in the past,” she said.

But heading the XIP is no easy task.

Mangaoang, a veteran at the BOC, is armed not just with years of experience as an executive but also has enough technical training on image scanning, risk management and regulatory and enforcement.

She took up Strategic Management of Regulatory and Enforcement Agencies at the John F. Kennedy School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

It was on March 28, 2007 when then Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales issued Customs Memorandum Order 6-2007. This enumerated the operational guidelines in the conduct of X-ray inspection on containerized shipments and established the XIP as a specialized and technical unit.

At present, the XIP has a total of 30 X-ray scanners for container van shipments and 12 X-ray scanners for baggage and loose cargoes manned by well-trained officers and personnel assigned at the different X-ray field offices.

X-ray machines are scattered in billionaire and high-traffic ports such as the Port of Manila, Manila International Container Port, Port of Subic, Port of Clark, Cebu, Davao, Zamboangao, General Santos, Batangas and the Mindanao Container Terminal in Cagayan de Oro.

The XIP has been recognized in other countries as well.

Last March, during the X-ray Image Analysis Training Seminar in Kuala Lumpur organized by the World Customs Organization, Mangaoang was asked to share the experience and knowledge behind the success of the XIP to participants from some 24 countries.

“The Philippines XIP is like their model. We published radiation safety manuals and training manuals. Other countries don’t do that. We also have an image library which has a compilation of X-ray images,” she said.

Despite the continued success of the project, Mangaoang said she would continue to push for the improvement of XIP’s operations.

She plans to push for health insurance for XIP’s 77-member team, considering that the employees are the only ones who have to be on standby up to 2 a.m. Some, like the ones assigned at the airports, work 24 hours.

The unit also wants to be able to have representation at the Risk Management Office, which is under the Office of the Commissioner and which sets the criteria for inspecting goods.

Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon, for his part, said in a separate interview with The Star, that the X-ray project is an effective tool as long as it is used properly.

“If it would be improved, it would put the country in line with Customs in developed countries,” Biazon said.