MANILA: Business groups are supporting President Duterte’s decision to reject a proposal of his allies in the House of Representatives to take over the helm of the Bureau of Customs (BOC), saying that corruption in the agency will not be the addressed even with the nation’s top official in charge. For local and foreign business groups, fully computerizing the BOC remains the best chance of ridding the agency of graft. “We do not believe granting emergency powers is required nor recommended to address the reported issues at the Bureau of Customs. We also do not believe the President should be charged with operational responsibility for a specific department of government,” Nordic Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines president Bo Lundqvist told The STAR. Lundqvist said competent leadership for the BOC could be found in the rich pool of talent in either the current or past administrations, or from the private sector. “The new leadership must be given a clear mandate and authority to reform the agency from ground up according to international standards, with transparency and accountability as the prime hallmarks of operation,” he said. Lundqvist said adopting internationally accepted and auditable standards in all processes at the BOC is the first step toward the removal of red tape, graft and corruption.
To enforce compliance, he said the agency must be fully computerized, including 100 percent electronic submission of all documents and declarations to Customs. “Furthermore, we recommend mandatory pre-shipment inspections of cargo at origin by recognized and certified inspection bureaus,” he said. The call for full computerization in the BOC is likewise supported by the country’s largest business organization, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), which called it as “a must and a priority” to take away graft in the agency. “Even though you put the President there he will not spend much time there. He will also put a right hand man there so what’s the point? Just get a Customs commissioner that you can trust and give him full support. I think that will do it. There will always be resistance for a good man there. But he should not mind the resistance,” PCCI honorary chairman Sergio Ortiz-Luis Jr. told The STAR.
The House committee chaired by Quirino Rep. Dakila Cua earlier recommended that the BOC be reorganized into two new agencies, one for customs service and the other for security control, given the countless corruption cases in the agency as well as the issue of the smuggling of P6.4 billion worth of shabu from China through the Port of Manila in May. Part of the recommendation is the setting of a two-year transition period for the President to do the job of Customs commissioner, as the bureaucracy is overhauled and the old structures of corruption phased out. Duterte, however, has rejected the recommendation of the House Ways and Means Committee to take over the BOC.
