黑料社

MANILA, Philippines鈥擟ustoms Commissioner John Phillip Sevilla said the port collection agency did not have enough people or computers to do its job properly but he hoped to solve this problem by mid next year.

Speaking before a recent meeting with traders and other customs stakeholders at the Development Bank of the Philippines in Makati City, the former finance undersecretary said the agency鈥檚 3,600-plus personnel nationwide, using only 994 computers with limited Internet connections, were 鈥渘ot enough to do the job鈥� of handling the country鈥檚 imports and raising the much-needed government revenues in the process.

Worse, despite their 鈥済reat responsibility and high degree of accountability,鈥� they 鈥済et a poor salary compared to their counterparts鈥� in other government agencies, he noted.

Credibility problem

However, he acknowledged the agency had a 鈥減roblem of credibility.鈥�

Various surveys have ranked the agency as among the most corrupt government offices.

鈥淟et us show good performance first. We need to show that we鈥檙e meeting our targets. We have to show that we can do it,鈥� he told BOC employees.

For the fourth consecutive month this year, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) failed to meet its revenue goal, with April collections coming up to P30.76 billion, about P5.03 billion short of its P35.79-billion target for the 19-day period.

Last month鈥檚 revenues brought to P117.26 billion the agency鈥檚 collections from January to April, about P13.31 billion short of its P130.57-billion goal for the period.

The bureau鈥檚 annual collection target is P408.1 billion.

Hiring more people

During the Makati forum, Sevilla pushed for the 鈥渉iring of more people.鈥澛� He also stressed the need to 鈥渟ort out a reasonable and appropriate way to pay for overtime of customs people on a regular basis.鈥�

But he announced some good news: 鈥淚n September, everyone who needs a computer will have one and will no longer have to share. Also in September, all customs offices in Manila will have the best Internet access. By December, all our ports will have Internet access because information technology is key to where we want to be a few months from now,鈥� he said.

He expressed confidence that by June next year, the bureau would be able to 鈥渙ffer the public a fully electronic and paperless processing of customs transactions.鈥�

The BOC 鈥渋s presently designing the IT infrastructure and building the platform to be able to do everything digitally,鈥� he said.

Reform program

Last month, he reported that the agency鈥檚 reform program, initiated in October, had been 鈥渕oving forward鈥� with projects like ports rationalization, better coordination between the BOC and the Bureau of Internal Revenue, adoption of best international customs practices, implementation of the agency鈥檚 international commitments, and updating the outdated Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines, among others.

The project stressed the need to 鈥渦proot corruption by rebooting customs.鈥�

Sevilla noted that 鈥渁 long history of backroom deals, institutionalized theft and impunity have made the bureau one of the most prominent faces of corruption in government.鈥�

Drastic shifts

However, he claimed this was 鈥渂eginning to change with drastic shifts in leadership, personnel and processes already taking place.鈥�

The Bureau of Customs was among the agencies criticized by President Aquino in his State of the Nation Address last July.

鈥淲here do these people get the gall?鈥� he asked, referring to BOC officials and employees allegedly involved in smuggling and other illegal activities.