BOC to stay until 2013

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu Port Authority (CPA) gave the Bureau of Customs (BOC) in Cebu until February next year before vacating its current building at Pier 6, Cebu City.

Ahmed Erpe, BOC-Cebu deputy collector for operations, said the six-month extension was officially announced by District Collector Edward dela Cuesta during their flag-raising ceremony yesterday.

Major Camilo Cascolan, BOC-Cebu Enforcement and Security Services district commander, said they should have already identified where to transfer within the next three months, considering that it would take around three months to install their computers and cabling systems.

Customs Commissioner Rufino Biazon, in an August 22, 2013 letter to the Office of the President Deputy Executive Secretary Teofilo S. Pilando, Jr., requested for intercession in looking for a temporary or definite solution to their problem.

To recall, the CPA gave the bureau until August 31, 2013 to stay at the CPA-owned building.

In his letter, Biazon asked the Office of the President for the immediate approval of the lease contract for the Quimonda IT Center through the issuance of an “Authority to Proceed” and for funding for the lease.

Biazon also requested that the CPA extend BOC’s lease of the building it is currently using while the draft contract is still under review by the Office of the President.

In the same letter, he also asked for the bureau to temporarily use the Malacanang of the South just in case his two suggestions are not feasible.

The BOC in Cebu lost its own home after former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo converted their century-old building into the Malacañang sa Sugbo or the Malacañang in the South in 2010.

President Benigno Aquino III does not use the building whenever he is in Cebu, but members of the Presidential Security Group use it as their sleeping quarters. (FREEMAN)