New BOC chief summons janitor

MANILA, Philippines - Newly appointed Customs Commissioner Rufino Biazon has summoned one of the janitors working at the Bureau of Customs (BOC) to look for missing documents concerning hold orders on cargoes.

However, his predecessor Angelito Alvarez denied that there are missing documents, saying all hold orders and alert orders have control numbers and could be accounted for.

At a press conference yesterday, Biazon said he was confronting many problems in the agency, including the lack of a proper filing system for documents.

“When I asked for copies of hold orders, nobody could produce any. They told me to ask the janitor,” Biazon told reporters.

Alvarez, on the other hand, said there would have been no confusion in the agency if his coterminous staff had been retained.

“I wonder where the confusion is coming from since my chief of staff, Adelina Molina and executive assistant on legal matters Geneifelle Lagmay have been retained by the Office of Commissioner Biazon as part of the transition team. The two officials can very well satisfy the information needs of the Office of the Commissioner,” he said. “Maybe if my coterminous staff were not issued termination notice immediately after the turnover last Monday, the transition could have been smoother.”

Biazon believes the whole operating system of the agency and not just the filing system is flawed, one of the reasons for leakage in revenues.

“I don’t know how this filing system works. These little details were overlooked,” he said.