BOC chief warns men on bribery: Reforms start rolling at the bureau

CEBU, Philippines - As reforms begin to unfold at the Bureau of Customs, Commissioner John Sevilla warned Customs personnel that bribery has no place at the bureau.

"That is completely unacceptable. Zero tolerance on 'tara' (bribery)," Sevilla said in a press briefing yesterday at BOC-Cebu Port District.

He said violators will be dealt with to the fullest extent of the law.

Sevilla came to Cebu in a first of a series of visits nationwide to brief all Customs personnel on reforms the bureau is implementing.

"Reforms are disruptive and everybody has to adjust. We need time for people to settle down and very soon, we can identify what kind of people do we lack, the skills needed and what practices has to be changed. Our goal is how to serve the public better. There is still plenty of room for improvement," said Sevilla.

He said the bureau will be putting up a system that would make it difficult to engage in smuggling.

The system includes transparency through public involvement, going digital in processing of import documents, among others.

Sevilla said it's not the revenue lost due to smuggling but the damage to the economy and the harm to the farmers that should be considered.

"Smuggling is a nationwide problem. Smugglers are not stupid, they just go somewhere else. Smuggling happens in so many ways. Smuggling happened and we are caught off-guard," he said.

But he explained the smuggling happens because the bureau has a system that does not allow them to capture the smugglers quickly.

"Under our reforms, we will be fixing our system that it would be easier to catch them," he said.

For better transparency, Sevilla said all transactions - including taxes and duties, the commodity and other Customs-related information - will be posted on their website.

"We are committed for a radical and increased transparency in the bureau. We want to put our transactions everything online as part of our transparency initiatives. We want the public to know that we are not hiding anything. We want the public to help us monitor by giving them information because we cannot monitor everything," Sevilla said.

After the press briefing, Sevilla led the opening of the six container vans loaded with various cargoes abandoned at the holding area of the Cebu International Port.

The six 40-footer container vans were part of the 1,370 vans that contain used tires, used clothing, used ambulance, chop-chop vehicles and plastic resins.

Sevilla said the used tires cannot be auctioned since their importation is prohibited.

However, the used tires can be donated to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

DENR-7 information officer Eddie Llamedo said that the used tires can be used as additives to asphalts.

"We have accredited recycling firms, who have the expertise to do that," said Llamedo.

He added that used tires can be used as artificial coral reefs but this is being discouraged due to some environmental concerns.

Sevilla said the used clothing can also be donated to calamity victims through the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

Customs district collector Roberto Almadin said the bureau will start auctioning next month the abandoned cargoes.

These cargoes were declared abandoned after no import entries were filed 30 days after they arrived at the Cebu port from April to December last year.

Almadin said he cannot assess yet the amount of the shipment since inventories are still going on.

Sevilla's visit to Cebu yesterday was his first since assuming the position in December. -/LPM  (FREEMAN)