Working weekends for BOC employees

After missing its first semester target, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) said it was requiring its employees to report on the weekends to make up for non-working holidays.

BOC commissioner Alberto Lina said yesterday BOC personnel would be required to report on Saturdays or Sundays during the weeks when non-working holidays were declared, particularly at the so-called Billionaire Ports in Manila, Cebu and Batangas.

The BOC had missed its P72.51-billion target for the first half of the year, collecting only P68.4 billion from January to June this year.

The January to June collection was 13 percent higher than the year-ago collection, but below expectations.

Lina said the June collection alone was 20 percent higher than last year, reaching P12.6 billion. He attributed the growth to administrative improvements and the crackdown on illegal smuggling.

However, Lina said the BOC wanted to tighten its operations further and required its personnel to allow shippers, forwarders, importers and exporters to continue transactions even on weekends.

"This will help port users and the BOC clientele avoid additional demurrage fees, unnecessary expenses and other delays resulting from the declaration of non-working holidays," Lina said.

Lina said the BOC was trying to persuade the Land Bank of the Philippines to match its operations.

LandBank has already extended its operating hours in the port area to 12 hours in support of the extension of the BOC’s working hours.