Customs chief puzzled over collection anomaly at NAIA

MANILA, Philippines - The complaint aired by international airlines on the alleged P2-billion anomalous collection by Customs personnel at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) has reportedly left Customs Commissioner Rufino Biazon wondering about the source of the allegations.

Biazon said he was puzzled where the complaint came from since he had just met with the Board of Airline Representatives (BAR), an organization of executives of international airlines operating in the country, last March 26 and they did not mention such complaint.

“I’m really wondering what this article is all about because just last Monday I met with the BAR, represented by different airlines, and they did not raise this issue. All of them were in my office and the particular matter (of discussion) was overtime. They did not mention the issue of possible malversation,” Biazon said.

Based on the statement released to the media by the BAR, it seemed that it was questioning the rate of P50 for every dollar, but Biazon said the issue has already been settled by the Supreme Court (SC).

“The overtime was declared constitutional by the SC and the rate itself, there is a basis so what is this article all about? The question in the article was the rate and this has already been decided by the SC last September,” he said.

Biazon said the SC’s decision upheld the charging of overtime at the BOC and the rate that was prescribed.

“When they asked the BOC why the rate from $1 to P25 was raised to $1 to P50, it was the prevailing peso-dollar exchange at that time,” he added.

Biazon said the BAR made no mention of the official or member who issued the statement.

“I would like to know who issued that statement. They said it was from the BAR but who from the BAR signed (it),” he said.

According to Biazon, he sent a text message to an official of Philippine Airlines, who headed the BAR delegation that visited him last Monday.

“I asked how come we met last Monday and this was not raised,” he said.

During their March 26 meeting, the international airline representatives were asking for the implementation of a 24/7 shifting of BOC personnel at the NAIA.

“I told them that my position is I am bound by the leadership to impose the 24/7 shifting,” he added.

This is contrary to the demands of the BOC Employees Association (Bocea) who are asking for an overtime system.

“That was the issue we talked about, not much on the rates because there is already an SC ruling,” he added.

At the moment, the BOC still lacks personnel at the NAIA and could not fully implement a 24/7 shifting.

He recalled the Bocea informing him that they have yet to be paid P2 billion for overtime.

“If there was malversation, then how come the employees said they were not even paid?” Biazon asked.

Coincidentally, the Bocea’s unpaid overtime pay was the same amount as that stated in BAR claims of malversation of public funds.

In a statement, BAR said they have been paying the Customs-Immigration-Quarantine (CIQ) fees for the “overtime service” of Customs personnel since the early 1990s. But they stopped paying when it went to court to question its collection.

The BAR said airport Customs officials have abused the collection of CIQ fees, claiming they have also been collecting meal and transportation allowances from airline companies.