BOC people fear Duterte may abolish the bureau

The abolition of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) may be the best option for incoming President Rodrigo Duterte to get rid of corruption in the agency, but likely a bad one for Customs officers and employees.

Helpless as they may be, the head of 3,000-member Bureau of Customs Employees Association (BOCEA) expects many people to lose jobs, including the importers, brokers and truckers transacting in the bureau, once it is abolished.

“Any pronouncement to abolish BOC is not a welcome development,” BOCEA president Romulo Pagulayan said when sought for reaction on the plan of Dutere to abolish the BOC, which he described as one of the “most corrupt” agencies.

He said that Customs employees are not thrilled for the planned abolition of BOC even the privatization of the revenue-generating agency because these would only cause job displacement.

“We have always been at the forefront of fighting for our rights and security of tenure, and our rights as citizens. If these would be done, many will be removed from our ranks and in BOC,” Pagulayan said.

“The privatization of BOC makes it very expensive on the part of the stakeholders and all users of the port because they would be paying the services being offered by private groups,” he added.

The outspoken mayor from Davao has plans just to abolish the BOC when he occupies Malacanang to end once and for all corruption in the bureau.

The other “most corrupt” agencies, he said, are the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and Land Transportation Office (LTO). Both the BOC and BIR are attached agencies of the Department of Finance (DOF).