BOC ready to follow Duterte’s orders

MANILA -- An official of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) on Monday said they will comply with the orders of President Rodrigo Duterte.

“The President has given his orders and BOC will implement whatever order the President has given,” Customs Assistant Commis

sioner Vincent Philip Maronilla said in a statement. The Customs official made the remark in response to Duterte’s plan to order Customs officials to report to Congress to help him with his everyday work. “I hope that I can have the cooperation of congress. If we cannot abolish their positions and cannot dismiss them for the reason there is a security of tenure,” he said in his fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA). “I will just allow them to have their plantilla positions but they have to report to Congress everyday to help me in the huge paper work that we have to do everyday. All of them, you will go out from the premises of the BOC area,” the Chief Executive added. The President also revealed that he went to the BOC early this month and was told that more than 60 personnel are facing charges while a total of 61 are under investigation. “I went to the BOC two weeks ago, and there are about 63 of them facing charges, criminal charges and 61 of them under investigation,” he added. On July 18, Duterte met with a total of 52 personnel of the BOC. Through Customs Personnel Order (CPO) No. A-284-2019, Customs Commissioner Rey Guerrero informed them that they have been invited by the Chief Executive. At the same time, the President acknowledged the BOC for collecting more than PHP580 billion revenue last year. “The BOC though corruption-ridden managed to collect Php585 Billion in 2018. Imagine how much more could have been collected had the BOC been clean and less corrupt,” he added. The 4th SONA lasted for one hour and 33 minutes. It started at 5 pm, an hour late from the original schedule. (PNA)