BOC district offices told to coordinate with BIR

The Bureau of Customs (BOC) has issued a new memorandum ordering its district offices to coordinate with the regional offices of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) in forming joint anti-smuggling units in their respective areas.

Customs commissioner Isidro Lapeña has issued the memorandum order in compliance with the directive of Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez to create regional anti-smuggling teams tasked to go after erring importers, brokers and BOC personnel outside Metro Manila.

“In line with the instruction of the Secretary to strengthen anti-smuggling efforts and establish anti-smuggling units in the provinces or regions, I issued a memorandum directing all district collectors to coordinate with BIR regional directors for the establishment of joint anti-smuggling units,” Lapeña said in a report to the Department of Finance (DOF).

Earlier, Dominguez said he wants the BOC and the BIR to strengthen their cooperation against smuggling activities at the regional level.

He also urged the BIR and the BOC to intensify their monitoring of rice, fuel, steel, cigarettes, and other agricultural products to prevent the illegal entry of these goods into the country.

Meanwhile, Lapeña also informed Dominguez of the BOC’s successful interception of smuggled products at the Manila International Container Port.

These include P25 million worth of smuggled goods from several shipments loaded with agricultural products, liquor, auto and aircraft parts and other merchandise.

The BOC also seized 18 luxury vehicles worth P103 million, but were grossly undervalued at P32 million, he said.

Lapeña has introduced measures in the bureau to help eliminate opportunities for illegal practices. Among these is the “one assessment or no sectioning” policy to prevent the “palakasan” and “suki” system in the BOC and to avoid delays in the processing of shipments.

Lapeña said this measure does away with the previous practice of dividing the bureau’s assessment division into 15 sections per commodity.

The Customs chief is also implementing the “anti-fixer” campaign at the BOC’s Accounts Management Office.

Under his one-strike policy, Lapeña has relieved or reassigned 116 customs personnel, including 10 district collectors.

As a result of these efforts, Lapeña said the BOC’s October 2017 collection reached P42 billion, reportedly the “highest” monthly collection in its history. This was also 26.4 percent higher than last year’s collection of P33.22 billion.