MANILA: The Bureau of Customs (BoC) has limited the powers of its officials to issue and lift alert orders on suspicious imports, with the intention of reducing the discretion of its officers and rein in corruption within the agency.
Container cranes at the Port of Manila as seen from the Customs bureau.
The BoC said in a statement that the new rules bar an official from lifting his or her own alert order tagging certain imports as questionable.
“Except for the Office of the Commissioner, the revised rules will no longer allow an alerting officer to lift the same order. The authority to lift alert orders shall now only be exercised by the district collector concerned,” the statement read.
“However, should the collector cause delay in the specified time frame allowed, the Commissioner may lift the alert order issued by other alerting officers,” it added.
Under the old rules, senior officials are authorized to issue and lift alert orders. They include the customs commissioner, deputies for enforcement and intelligence and district collectors.
“The prosecutor cannot be the judge at the same time,” Customs Commissioner Alberto D. Lina was quoted as saying in a statement.
The move comes in anticipation of a surge in shipments in the coming months and is also designed to avoid a repeat of last year’s port congestion.
All alert orders should be lodged with the BoC’s electronic to mobile system. Manual alert orders can only occur when the electronic-to-mobile system is not accessible.
“Once the alert order has been lifted and the shipment has been tagged in the On-Line Release System (OLRS), no alerting office can hold it any further for whatever reason, unless a recommendation is submitted to the Commissioner for the issuance of a ‘Special Stop’ order,” BoC said.
