BOC rewards program finalized soon

After surpassing its collection target, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) is now close to finalizing the mechanics for rewarding its employees under the Lateral Attrition Act.

The BOC said yesterday its rewards program would give customs employees a uniform amount plus a "performance premium" based on the merit ratings.

Customs Deputy Commissioner Rey Umali said the reward to be distributed among employees would be equivalent to at least 15 percent of the excess collection and this would go up to 20 percent if the excess collection turned up 30 percent higher than the goal.

Under the rules of the Revenue Performance Evaluation Board (RPEB), BOC employees stand to get at least P330 million to be divided among themselves based on the mechanics now under review.

Once completed, the BOC’s rewards and incentives for its employees would mark the first time that any line agency would get legally-mandated benefits from breaching targets.

Umali told reporters that the initial amount being considered was P2.2 billion, based on the total collection target of P190 billion and the actual collection of P192.2 billion.

According to Umali, however, the BOC is still pushing for a higher amount based on the BOC’s internal target collection and not on the official collection target under the national budget.

The P7.5-billion internal target was based on the assumption of a strong dollar and higher oil prices, both of which did not materialize in 2006 when the peso was strong and oil prices were actually lower.

Under the Lateral Attrition law, BOC and Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) employees are entitled to monetary rewards if they exceed their full-year collection target. Otherwise, they face demotion, reassignment, or outright dismissal.

"Even if certain ports did not meet their targets, the amount that they were able to collect still formed a critical portion of our collection and if they hadn’t collected that, then everyone would have failed," Umali explained.

Umali said that under the initial proposal, BOC employees would receive this basic amount as their share. Based on individual performance, however, Umali said the commission planned to give out additional rewards.

"Everyone gets a share but those who performed distinctly well and over their targets will get a premium," he said.