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Function[edit]
The Bureau has the following duties under the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act (RA 10863):
(a) Assessment and collection of customs revenues from imported goods and other dues, fees,
charges, fines and penalties accruing under the CMTA;
(b) Simplification and harmonization of customs procedures to facilitate movement of goods in
international trade;
(c) Border control to prevent entry of smuggled goods;
(d) Prevention and suppression of smuggling and other customs fraud;
(e) Facilitation and security of international trade and commerce through an informed compliance
program;
(f) Supervision and control over the entrance and clearance of vessels and aircraft engaged in
foreign commerce;
(g) Supervision and control over the handling of foreign mails arriving in the Philippines for the
purpose of collecting revenues and preventing the entry of contraband;
(h) Supervision and control on all import and export cargoes, landed or stored in piers, airports,
terminal facilities, including container yards and freight stations for the protection of government
revenue and prevention of entry of contraband;
(i) Conduct a compensation study with the end view of developing and recommending to the
President a competitive compensation and remuneration system to attract and retain highly qualified
personnel, while ensuring that the Bureau remains financially sound and sustainable;
(j) Exercise of exclusive original jurisdiction over forfeiture cases under the CMTA; and
(k) Enforcement of the CMTA and all other laws, rules and regulations related to customs
administration.
Customs Districts[edit]
The Bureau of Customs has 17 Customs Districts (as enumerated below). Each Customs District is
headed and supervised by a District Collector, assisted by as many Deputy District Collectors as
may be necessary. A Customs District has a designated “principal port of entry”. Generally, a
principal port of entry has its “sub-port(s) of entry”.
VISION
A modernized and credible Customs administration which is among the world’s best that every
Filipino can be proud of.
MISSION
The Bureau of Customs is focused on fulfilling the mandate from the President as follows:
The Bureau’s Mission also covers activities in the functional areas of Revenue Collection, Trade
Facilitation and Border Protection.
For 2019, we determined the needs of the organization and came up with the following 10-Point
Priority Program.
First, the Enhancement of BOC Information and Technology System, which envisions a fully
automated Customs Processing System to reduce opportunities for corruption.
Third, the Provision of Incentives for our Employees to motivate personnel to do good and
perform better.
VALUES
PALACE MEETING. President Rodrigo Duterte addresses embattled officials of the Bureau of Customs in a
meeting in Malacanang on July 18, 2019. Malacañang photo
MANILA, Philippines – Some 119 Bureau of Customs officials are facing administrative and
criminal complaints, the BOC announced on Tuesday, August 20.
According to the BOC mid-year report presented by Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo
Guerrero, the BOC filed a total of 120 administrative and 20 criminal complaints against 119
personnel.
The BOC said 27 other officials were served show cause orders for suspected underperformance
and corruption.
Guerrero emphasized that his thrust to clear Customs of corrupt and underperforming officials
would ultimately allow him to reach the BOC's revenue target.
The tally of officials include the suspended and 7 dismissed Customs officials as ordered by
the Office of the Ombudsman on August 15. The dismissals and suspension were rooted in
varying offenses, including failure to flag a consignee later apprehended for smuggling shabu.
Guerrero said the 52 Customs officials whom President Rodrigo Duterte wanted out were also
included in the count.
Guerrero said the officials had been on “floating” status since they were assigned to the Customs
Compliance and Monitoring Division where they have to report every day.
The Commissioner said the effort was in line with President Rodrigo Duterte’s aim of
ridding Customs of corruption, after back-to-back smuggling controversies which led to
the untimely exit of the last two Customs chiefs. – Rappler.com
"The Office of the Ombudsman has ordered an in-depth investigation into alleged graft and
corrupt practices perpetrated by officials and employees of the Bureau of Customs which may
lead to criminal and administrative charges," the office said in a press release on Wednesday, the
first to be sent by the office after a yearlong silence.
The press release came two days after President Rodrigo Duterte ranted against the BOC during
his 4th State of the Nation Address (SONA).
“Bureau of Customs, the corruption-ridden, managed to collect P585 billion in 2018. How much
more could have been collected had the BOC been clean and less corrupt?” Duterte said.
Duterte even urged Congress to help him fire officials who are protected by security of tenure.
The Office of the Ombudsman has the power to fire officials, if it finds them guilty of
administrative offenses. The firing, or the suspension, usually comes first before the finding
of a probable cause for the criminal offense over which the official will undergo trial in
court.
The Ombudsman reiterated that in its statement: "If warranted, the Ombudsman may order the
suspension or dismissal from the service of erring public officials found administratively liable
for Grave Misconduct, Gross Neglect of Duty or Conduct Prejudicial to the Interest of the
Service."
Ombudsman Samuel Martires on Thursday, July 25, said that preventive suspension is possible
too, or the suspension of the officials even before the finding of guilt in administrative offenses.
The preventive suspension may come as the investigation progresses. Martires said there may be
initial results in two weeks.
"I don't think we can proceed with the investigation smoothly if we do not impose preventive
suspension," Martires said.
The 2018 audit of the Bureau of Customs revealed the agency has not learned its lesson
from past instances of large-scale shabu smuggling at the ports because they continued to
illegally release cargo, "causing undue disadvantage to the government in the form of
additional revenues to be collected.”
The investigation is launched without the filing of a complaint, which is allowed by the
rules and is called a motu propio investigation.
"Under Republic Act No. 6770 (Ombudsman Act of 1989), the Ombudsman as protector of
the people, may investigate and prosecute on its own or on complaint by any person, any
act or omission of any public officer or employee, office or agency, when such act or
omission appears to be illegal, unjust, improper or inefficient," said the Ombudsman.
This was the first press release to come from the Office of the Ombudsman since retired justice
Samuel Martires took office and instituted what is effectively a media blackout policy on
resolutions and other updates. – Rappler.com
MANILA - Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Friday ordered the National Bureau of
Investigation (NBI) to look into alleged corruption at the Bureau of Customs (BOC), days after
President Rodrigo Duterte spoke about the matter in his fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA).
In Department Order No. 383 dated July 26, Guevarra ordered the NBI to "conduct a thorough
investigation and case buildup on the alleged graft and corrupt practices in the Bureau of Customs,"
as the President had cited in his SONA.
It also directed the NBI to "file appropriate charges against persons found responsible therefore" if it
finds evidence of corruption.
In his report to the nation on Monday, Duterte said the BOC had managed to collect P585 billion in
2018, but added it could have generated higher revenues if there was no corruption.
"Imagine how much more could have been collected had the BOC been clean and less corrupt,"
Duterte said in his speech.
Recently, more than 60 Customs officials were relieved over alleged corruption. The agency has long
been plagued by allegations of wrongdoing, with contraband- including billion-peso drug shipments-
passing through port inspections.
On Thursday, Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who earlier bared anomalies at the bureau, said Customs chief
Rey Guerrero should ask the President for blanket authority to cleanse the bureau.
Duterte named Guerrero, a former armed forces chief of staff, to the bureau's helm in October last
year amid a multibillion-peso drug smuggling controversy under Isidro Lapeña.
NBI Director Dante Gierran was also directed to submit reports on the investigation
directly to Guevarra.
Read more at https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2019/07/27/1938346/doj-orders-
nbi-investigate-corruption-customs#SvH5ZdLBC9B8MPSD.99
Noting that the BoC managed to collect P585 billion last year, Duterte last Monday
said the agency could have generated more revenues had it been clean and less
corrupt.
“If we cannot abolish their position and if I cannot dismiss them for the reason that
there is a security of tenure, I will just allow them to have their plantilla positions but
they have to report to Congress every day to help me in the huge paperwork that we
have to do every day,” Duterte told lawmakers during his SONA.
He said, “take away the brokers and you would have cut corruption
overnight. On a scale of one to 10, maybe you have reduced corruption to
about eight or eight and one half.”
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The president of the Chamber of Customs Brokers, Adones Carmona, protested the
President’s statement on the customs brokers’ culpability for corruption at the BOC.
Calling the accusation unfair and the order a threat to the livelihood of thousands of
customs brokers, Carmona said his organization would fight against its
implementation.
Assuming the President was not joking when he made that accusation, he was barking
up the wrong tree. Corruption at the BOC is an institutional, rather than a sectoral,
problem.
Misdeclaration or undervaluation of goods (or smuggling) and bribery are rampant at
the second highest revenue raising agency of the government because its systems and
procedures breed corruption or otherwise provide opportunities for the commission of
those offenses.
Smuggling continues unabated because smugglers know how to game customs
regulations and, in case they are caught, are able to cite loopholes that allow their
escape from prosecution.
And the few who are prosecuted manage to delay their trial until the witnesses against
them lose interest or the damning evidence mysteriously disappear.
Businesses whose continued operation depends on the timely delivery of imported
materials are at the mercy of customs officials.
When the processing and release of imports are delayed for one bureaucratic reason or
another, the importers’ brokers cannot be faulted for greasing the palms of customs
officials to be able to meet delivery dates.
More so, if the goods are perishable or are tied to critical manufacturing or operational
deadlines.
No importer in his or her right mind would engage in acts of bribery unless the
attending circumstances compel him or her to do so. Every centavo paid as bribe adds
to business costs.
Recall that prior to the appointment of Secretary Rogelio Singson to the Department
of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in 2010, this office was considered one of
the most corrupt government offices.
After shuffling a few officials, Singson overhauled the DPWH’s systems and
procedures on the conduct of public works bidding and monitoring of the progress of
constructions to minimize opportunities for corruption. When he resigned in 2016, the
DPWH ceased to be tagged as corruption-laden.
To the credit of now Public Works Secretary Mark Villar, he enhanced the same
systems and processes so the DPWH remained relatively “clean” in terms of incidence
of corruption.
But efficient and less corruption prone procedures are meaningless unless their
implementation is supervised by a competent and honest leader.
When the line supervisors and rank-and-file employees see their leader as upright and
will not tolerate any hanky panky in the performance of their official duties, they will
think twice before engaging in any unlawful activity.
To paraphrase a famous saying: Show me who your leader is and I will tell you what
kind of followers he or she has.
Sadly, the BOC has the misfortune of being led by two commissioners who failed to
live up to the President’s expectations of a corruption-free BOC. Whether or not the
present BOC commissioner would be any better than his predecessors remains to be
seen.
Before getting rid of customs brokers, the President may want to check if the problem
of corruption can be traced to the internal mechanisms and leadership of the BOC.
The customs brokers are not angels. They have their own share of corruption at the
BOC. But to make them principally responsible for it is uncalled for.