Lapeña abolishes BOC Command Center

Newly – appointed Bureau of Customs (BOC) Commissioner Isidro Lapeña set the tone of his term early on by abolishing the Command Center established by his predecessor, Nicanor Faeldon.

Lapeña, through a Customs memorandum, abolished the Command Center (COMCEN) on August 31, 2017, a day after he officially assumed office.

With the abolishing of the COMCEN, Lapeña has given the authority to issue alert orders to the deputy commissioners of Intelligemce Group and Enforcement Group and all district collectors nationwide.

"This is my way of showing full trust and confidence to the officers of men and women of the bureau. I hope they will be able to value the trust and confidence given to them," Lapeña said during his first flag -raising ceremony in the bureau yesterday.

"I strongly believe that if we can just do our job properly and we will strictly implement the law, rules and regulations in the Bureau of Customs, we will be able to meet our target," Lapeña stressed.

COMCEN was created under Customs Special Order No. 45-2016 and signed by Faeldon.

COMCEN was established to monitor, coordinate, and supervise different aspects of customs administration to make operational data critical for informed decision making readily available.

It was created to give the public transparency in the bureau's operation.

Collection target

Lapeña likewise disclosed that the BOC is still 50 percent off its collection target this year.

"When I met with the DOF (Department of Finance) Secretary, I was informed that the bureau's annual collection target is 468 billion, our actual collection as of present is only R261.81 billion," Lapeña bared.

"We need to collect the remaining 206.19 billion until December. That translates to a target 50.1 billion per month starting September. Kaya ba natin ito? Kaya natin at kakayanin natin yan (Can we do this? We can do this and we will make it happen)," he added.

Lapeña further told the BOC employees that if they meet the target there will be an incentive for the bureau.

"We will be considered as one of the top performing agency so kakayanin natin (we can do it). I believe we can do it," he said.