Customs operation center to monitor all ports in real time

All ports in the country will be monitored in real time through the Operations Center of the Bureau of Customs (BOC), Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapeña said.

This came after Lapeña abolished the Command Center (CommCen) and converted it to an operations center which is similar to the system of the Philippine National Police and Armed Forces of the Philippines.

Like CommCen’s task, the operation center will also be monitoring all activities in all ports in the Philippines but without the authority to issue alert orders on shipments.

“I have already given instruction that the equipment at the command center will be used in an operation center that will be monitoring all activities in all ports in the country at any time,” Lapeña said during a press conference.

He said its purpose is to give the national office, especially the commissioner, real time situations in all ports.

The creation of CommCen, Lapeña said, was not only illegal but also ineffective in terms of issuance of alert orders.

With the abolition of CommCen, deputy commissioners for intelligence (IG) and enforcement (EG) and district collectors are now given the power to issue alert order over a shipment, according to the Customs Memorandum Order (CMO) No.14-2017 issued by Lapeña earlier.

CommCen was created during the time of former Customs Chief Nicanor Faeldon through Customs Special Order (CSO) No. 45-2016, to centralize operations in BOC especially in areas of trade facilitation and border control.

It was composed of personnel from several Customs offices including the IG and EG, Assessment and Operations Coordinating Group (AOCG), Revenue Collection Monitoring Group, Management Information System and Technology Group (MISTG), and the offices of Risk Management (RMO), Accounts Management (AMO) and X-ray Inspection project.

CommCen was tasked to collate information on significant events and activities of all collection districts and sub-ports, law enforcement and regulating agencies, Customs stakeholders and open source media.

It was also tasked to monitor, coordinate and supervise different aspects of customs administration so that operational data critical for informed decision-making will be easily available.