Survivors

What will it take to clean up the Bureau of Customs? Every administration initiates efforts to end illegal activities in what in every survey is consistently ranked among the most corrupt agencies. Yet the crooks in the BOC have been masters of survival, sabotaging even moves to computerize operations.

BOC employees aren’t the only ones to blame for the persistence of the problem. As certain former Customs commissioners have lamented, BOC officials come under tremendous pressure from politicians and other influential individuals or groups to set aside rules and look the other way even if it means allowing smuggling. As a recent controversy also showed, politicians interfere and lobby for the appointment and promotion of BOC employees regardless of qualifications. Such endorsements are always repaid by the beneficiary.

Now it’s the turn of President Duterte to deal with these problems, and his appointee is feeling the heat. Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon had suspended Larribert Hilario of the BOC’s risk management office following raids on two warehouses in Valenzuela last May 26 wherein 604 kilos of shabu valued at P6.5 billion were seized. An inquiry showed that the shabu shipped from China had passed through the so-called green lane in the BOC, meaning it was waved through without inspection.

During a Senate probe on the case yesterday, a witness reportedly identified behind closed doors the individuals involved in drug smuggling through the BOC. Hilario, for his part, is now in the protective custody of the House of Representatives, which will present him as a witness during its own probe next week on the same issue. Faeldon, a former military officer, last night urged the President to step into the controversy.

Beyond the probes and the arrest and prosecution of anyone implicated in drug trafficking and smuggling, the government must work out measures to significantly minimize if not eradicate graft in the BOC. Corruption and smuggling in the bureau have discouraged investments and posed unfair competition. President Duterte has been saying that he is declaring war on corruption. His victory will depend a great deal on whether he can make a difference in the Bureau of Customs.