BOC employees ignore “corrupt” perception

If society perceives the Bureau of Customs to be the most corrupt government agency,  it does not necessarily mean that all its employees are.

This was stressed yesterday by the organizer of the BOC forum entitled “Values Formation Workshop” held at the Baseline Restaurant. It was a workshop aimed at strengthening the core values of the agency as well as its employees for more efficient public service.

“We’re just doing our job. Problema na ng public ‘yon if they think otherwise. Hindi naman natin maalis sa perception nila na ganun eh. Nasa kanila na yon. What is important is that we are doing our job. We hit our target,” said event coordinator Lesille Jaspe.

Jaspe also appealed to the public not to judge Customs officials implicated on corruption issue until proven by the court.

The issue came amid the complaints of car dealers in Cebu that car smuggling is still rampant at the port of Cebu.

Jose Cuenco, president of the Cebu Auto Dealers Association, suspects somebody at the BOC is tolerating smuggling, though he did not drop names but Cuenco said increase of dubious luxury vehicles in the streets in Cebu proves this.

CADA submitted their position paper to Finance Secretary Margarito Teves and Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group chief Undersecretary Antonio Villar Jr. last August 14.

CADA, however, said that after a thorough examination of figures from the Land Transportation Office and Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc., they found discrepancies in the new registrations and vehicle sales per region.

CAMPI and LTO records did not match. In Central Visayas, CAMPI only recorded a total of 5,060 new car registrations in 2006.  But based on LTO records, the total new vehicle registrations reached 25,221.

“The statistics above indicate that in Region 7 the LTO new registration for private passenger cars, utility vehicles and sports utility vehicles is five times more than that of the vehicle registration tallied by CAMPI,” CADA said.

CADA said they also received reports that brand new vehicles sold at prices way below the regular dealer prices have been registered in Cebu or its nearby agencies.

“Upon verification of the vehicle details of these brand new units, we have ascertained that these were not sold by our distributors in the Philippines – which could only mean that the vehicle identification numbers have either been tampered or that they have been illegally imported.”

But district collector Ricardo Belmonte and LTO-7 regional director Alex Leyson denied the allegations.

Belmonte said that the issue was simply a dirty tactic employed against his office by disgruntled Customs brokers merely to discredit them.

Leyson belied the claims of CADA that there were over 25,000 new registered vehicles at the agency saying there were only 3,303 registered SUVs in the region, contrary to the CADA records.

The over 25,000 newly registered cars, Leyson said, may refer to the new car registrations in the entire country. — Gerome M. Dalipe/BRP