Pardo wants BOC privatized; Farolan glad to be home

Finance Secretary Jose Pardo batted yesterday for the eventual privatization of the Bureau of Customs (BOC), saying it might make the revenue-generating bureau more efficient.

At the same time, Pardo asked officials and the rank and file of the bureau to rally behind the efforts of the Department of Finance (DOF) at bridging the P100-billion national budget deficit expected this year.

Pardo was at the Customs offices in Port Area for the turnover rites for the bureau's new and returning commissioner, retired Gen. Ramon Farolan. He replaces Nelson Tan.

Farolan's first words were, "It's good to be home." The 65-year-old former STAR editor-in-chief left the BOC in 1986.

Pardo noted that due to the changing business environment brought about by advances in technology and trade globalization, there is a need to reorganize government and trim the bureaucracy.

"With the call for a high level of efficiency, there is a need for reorganization in the bureaucracy ... and (we might see) the Customs service privatized ... like in New Zealand and other countries where revenue centers like airports, post offices and customs have already been privatized," Pardo said.

"We can't work our separate ways and achieve what we aim for. We have to work together, reinforce each other to be able to do that. We urge you to rally behind us," he stressed, noting the biggest challenge is still how to address the ballooning deficit.

"It is important that we meet the revenue collection target, otherwise the activities of government will suffer. A unified effort of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the BOC is needed to deliver," he said.

And while Pardo acknowledged the bureau has an "image problem," he also admitted that "there is a limit to what our revenue collectors can contribute."

He talked of the "missed opportunities" and the dismal possibility of again being passed by in the race to the top of the heap of countries within the region.

"The country has had its share of missed opportunities. It is unfortunate that when the opportunities came knocking at our doors in the '50s and '60s, we failed to respond," he said.

The finance chief's first official act was witnessing the turnover of the Customs leadership from Tan, one of the youngest commissioners to ever serve the bureau at 37, to Farolan.

Farolan introduced Pardo, describing him as "the hardest working member of the Cabinet."

Farolan said he accepted the Customs post with reluctance, knowing that for a man his age, "no longer a spring chicken and having had a triple bypass, the job is so full of pressures, really a challenging task even for a young, healthy man (like Tan)."

He said it was a rare chance to serve the public again, and that he "had no lengthy answers" when President Estrada asked him to again assume the Customs helm.

"He (the President) must have realized I have my shortcomings, my health and my age, but still he asked to do my bit in nation-building. Whatever one may say, one does not just say `no' to the President of the Republic," Farolan said in his acceptance speech.

Tan, on the other hand, thanked Customs officials and the rank and file for their support and commended them for having overshot the DOF-set collection target by P1.38-billion (P85 billion out of P83.6 billion out of the 1999 target).

The BOC target for 2000 is P99 billion, but Tan said P95 billion is more realistic.

Tan thanked President Estrada for giving him the opportunity to serve as Customs chief, "young as I am."