Gov't vows total war vs BOC misfits

From the bureau into the clinker.

President Estrada warned yesterday that corrupt Customs officials will be thrown in jail along with people who drop his name when transacting business with the Bureau of Customs (BOC).

In a speech read for him by Finance Secretary Jose Pardo during the BOC's 98th anniversary, the Chief Executive called corruption a "Multi-Headed Monster" whose heads should be chopped off without hesitation.

"As I have promised, I will not stop until all of them are arrested and jailed," he said. "They are the ones who are making life hard for our people. It is just right we put a stop to their shenanigans."

Mr. Estrada called on Customs officials and employees to report to him the names of smugglers and those who use his name for their illegal activities.

"I am confident that under my term and with your (BOC) support, corruption will not prevail," he said. "(Corrupt officials will be jailed) because you are responsible to me and I am accountable to the people."

As for name-droppers, the President said: "When they drop my name, they drag me down. If that is what you want, I will break off with you right now. If you don't care about my name, I am cutting off our relationship as kin or friends."

Pardo reiterated his earlier declaration that Customs services would be privatized in "the not-so-distant future" as part of the dismantling of tariff throughout the world.

"I say this as secretary of finance who is active in the World Trade Organization," he said. "So, eventually we will have a freeport world, so to speak, where trade investments and trade will freely flow. We must navigate towards that goal."

He also stressed the significance of computerization, especially global networking in the operations of the BOC as a revenue-collecting agency of government.

"This would bring transparency and address corruption problems." he said.

He also said the BOC should fight corruption at all cost if it wants to remain a relevant agency of the government, which has a worthy mandate.

Acting Customs Commissioner Renato Ampil told Customs officials and employees the BOC has surpassed the finance department's assigned collection target of P87 billion by about P3 billion.

"We not only surpassed our target, we also reversed a two-year streak of collection shortfalls (1997-98) due to the Asian financial crisis," he said.