New Customs chief revamps collectors
THE NEWLY seated Customs chief has yanked eight district collectors from their posts and reassigned 30 section chiefs in Manila to the provinces in a major salvo on irregularities entrenched in the bureau, while bringing in some of his former staff from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) which he used to head.
In a statement, the Bureau of Customs (BoC) said Commissioner Isidro S. Lapeña’s moves were covered by separate Customs Personnel Orders dated Sept. 27 and Oct. 4. All were signed by Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III, take immediate effect “and shall last until revoked.”
While the orders themselves did not state specific reasons behind the movements beyond “the exigency of service,” the bureau in its statement referred to “the earlier pronouncement of Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapeña that he will be relieving any officer who will disregard his marching order to stop corruption and benchmarking in their respective ports” — referring to the practice of Customs collectors and traders of agreeing on the value of the latters’ shipments in lieu of correct valuation of goods.
Announcement of the movements coincided with the release yesterday of preliminary Finance department data showing the government’s two chief revenue collectors improving their take from the past year but missing their targets in the nine months to September. The Bureau of Internal Revenue grew collections by 10.85% annually to P1.302 trillion as of September, although it missed a P1.351-trillion target for those nine months by 3.6%. The same comparative nine months saw the BoC increasing collections by 11.79% to P323.72 billion but missing a P342.87billion goal by 5.59%.
Affected district collectors were identified as Elvira L. Cruz of the Port of Cebu, Romeo Allan R. Rosales of Port of San Fernando, Julius B. Premediles of Port of Limay, Jose A. Naig of Port of Iloilo, Carmelita M. Talusan of Port of Subic, Divina B. Garrido of Port of Legazpi, Halleck A. Valdez of Port of Zamboanga and Tomas L. Alcid of Port of Appari. All eight district collectors have been reassigned to the Compliance Monitoring Unit.
Mr. Lapeña also reassigned 30 section chiefs of the Formal Entry Divisions of two of the bureau’s biggest districts — the Manila International Container Port and Port of Manila that account for about a third and a tenth, respectively, of total collections — to “various provincial collection districts of the bureau” and assigned their assistant chiefs to replace them in acting capacity.
Mr. Lapeña — who took over the bureau last Aug. 30 — was named Customs chief after his predecessor, Nicanor E. Faeldon, resigned after being blamed for P6.4 billion worth of 604 kilograms of methamphetamine slipping under BoC’s nose last semester. Subsequent legislative hearings bared a mix of entrenched corruption, bureaucratic inefficiencies, rivalry among law enforcers and perceived ineptitude of some senior Customs officials that allowed the massive drug shipment to slip through the bureau’s gates.
“I personally monitor the ports, including… daily collection performance and it is apparent from the records that benchmarking is still being used in the assessment of duties and taxes,” Mr. Lapeña said. “This has to stop immediately.” “Detailed” to BoC from PDEA, which remains their mother agency, are regional directors Melvin S. Estoque, now head of the Account Management Office to handle traders’ accreditation; Jeoffrey C. Tacio, officer in charge of the Import Assessment Service that monitors shipment valuation and Jacquelyn L. De Guzman to head the Administration Office. —