‘We have a lot of catching up to do’
Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapena admitted yesterday that the Bureau of Customs has a lot of catching up to do to be at par with foreign counterparts.
Lapena shared his thoughts during a roundtable discussion with Manila Bulletin editors.
He said the Customs bureau is now left behind in terms of customs practices and processes.
He bared that during his visits in some countries in Asia, he saw the big difference between the ports in those countries and the Philippines’ ports.
In one of the conferences the commissioner attended, Lapena said he was able to take a tour at the customs of Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia where he saw the big difference.
“Kota Kinabalu is in Saba and when I saw the Customs facilities in Kota Kinabalu, malayo tayo. And that is just Kota Kinabalu, you will not see a lot of people there because even the transaction of the importations are done through computers already,” Lapena said.
“So, that’s the state of the Philippine Customs and where we are. Just comparing it to Kota Kinabalu,” he added.
The commissioner said if improvements have been done before, the bureau would no longer have to trail behind its counterparts nowadays.
“That’s why, when I was there, there are offers from the World Customs Organization as well as the representative of the ADB (Asian Development Bank). They said that they are going to finance the conduct of time release study (TRS) – it is about the process time in the ports,” Lapena said.
“I immediately manifested the study because I know process time. I know time release study,” he added.
A few weeks from now, a time release study that will look into the port operation process to determine where delays occur prior to releasing the shipments will be conducted in Port of Manila and other main ports will follow.