House leaders mull third party monitoring of BOC

Lawma ers yesterday proposed a multi sectoral third party monitoring system to establish a more effective trans parency and accountability mechanism to fight corruption and smuggling at the Bureau of ustoms BO .

estern Samar ep. el Senen Sarmiento and alen uela ep. agtang gol unigundo stressed the envisioned third party monitoring mechanism was not intended to encroach on the efforts of ustoms to stamp out smuggling.

If we set up a mechanism where citi ens can have the opportunity in moni toring and assessing the performance of the BO , we will be more effective in our campaign against smuggling and corrup tion, Sarmiento said.

e said corruption is rampant at the BO that even a mere cler can afford to buy a orsche sports car.

Sarmiento said the proposed multi sectoral and inter disciplinary third party panel could be composed of people from reputable civil society organi ations, academe and religious organi ations, ust li e in other govern ment pro ects or agencies.

Sarmiento also e pressed support for the efforts of retired general and ustoms deputy commissioner Jesse Dellosa in the fight against smuggling despite attempts to discredit him.

It loo s li e eneral Dellosa has al ready stirred the hornets nest when he was appointed at the BO and this could be the reason why there is a demolition campaign against him. It s ust unfortu nate that while the BO is now ma ing great progress in the fight against graft and corruption, efforts to destroy the reputation of the institutions are persis tent and relentless, Sarmiento said.

unigundo supported the idea of forming a third party monitoring body but with a slight difference.