New customs chief Biazon told: Go ask the janitor

Customs chief Rufino Biazon. INQUIRER file photo

If you are the new boss at the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and you are looking for vital state documents to help you in your fight against corruption, who do you go to?

No kidding, but newly appointed Customs Commissioner Rozzano Rufino Biazon was told by his staff: Go ask the janitor.

Recounting his meeting with his staff on Thursday, Biazon said he asked them for copies of hold orders involving container vans that should have been held at the BOC, amid reports many of these were missing.

“When I requested for copies of the hold orders, no one was able to produce a copy of the document. The worst thing about it was when I asked where we could get the papers, I was told that we need to ask the janitor,” Biazon, speaking in Filipino, said at a press conference.

Biazon spoke to reporters after filing a complaint in the Department of Justice against an oil company for allegedly smuggling P1 billion worth of oil products.

Biazon said he had yet to talk to the janitor to find out what documents, if any, the janitor had collected while cleaning up the offices at BOC.

Biazon said one possible reason some documents could not be accounted for was that there was no “complete turnover procedure” when he took over from his predecessor, Angelito Alvarez, on Monday.

Overtaken by events

Biazon said this was simply because they were “overtaken by events” as Alvarez was busy attending budget hearings until a few days before he took over as customs commissioner on Monday.

“There wasn’t enough time for that kind of transition and turnover,” Biazon said.

He said he had been informed there were container vans that had been put on hold but there was no official figure on how many these were. He would not confirm reports that the number was as high as 3,000.

Biazon said the container vans were put on hold “for various reasons.”

“Apparently they were placed on hold immediately before we assumed office by personnel employed by the previous commissioner,” Biazon said.

Asked if he was having this investigated, Biazon said this had not been done because he first requested the “staff concerned” to submit their reports.

Brokers know

Moreover, Biazon does not yet consider the vans to be missing.

“Let’s not [call] them missing yet. We are still looking for the documents. Let me be clear on this, I am not branding them as missing vans. The brokers know for sure where their vans are,” he said.

“It’s that the trail of paperwork I am asking for has not yet been submitted to me. There are [vans] that are still on hold and the (hold) order has not been lifted.”

Biazon said some of the papers regarding hold orders should go through the Office of the Customs Commissioner but that “they’ve been coming in trickles.”

“That’s one of the reasons why I requested for a briefing with the staff to give me an update … I was a bit surprised that there are only a few documents being processed through my office,” he said.

Devil is in details

Biazon said no one was being sarcastic when he was told that the janitor might know where the documents were now.

“Those we interviewed were basically being honest. When the team left the office, they just left the papers there and then it was the janitor who cleaned them up,” Biazon said, referring to the Alvarez team.

In replacing Alvarez, President Benigno Aquino III had indicated he was not happy with his performance.

Biazon did not blame Alvarez outright for the difficulty in finding the documents and why they should end up in the hands of a janitor.

“I don’t know if this system has been going on for how many years,” Biazon said. “I would assume that these little details were probably overlooked. If you would look at this problem, sometimes people would say it’s not the job of the commissioner anymore.”

As a former congressman, Biazon said his training was “to look into systems and details.”

“The devil is always in the details. That’s what we have to remember. Big time smuggling happens because the system inside has loopholes,” he said.

Alvarez explains

Interviewed on the phone, Alvarez said the transition at the BOC could have gone smoothly if some of the staff he left behind to help in the transition were not immediately terminated.

Alvarez also asked why there should be any “confusion” at the BOC since two members of his team—his chief of staff Adelina Molina and executive assistant on legal matters Geneifelle Lagmay—were kept by Biazon to help with the transition.

“I wonder where the confusion is coming from since (Molina and Lagmay) have been retained by the office of Commissioner Biazon as part of the transition team. The two officials can very well satisfy the information needs of the Office of the Customs Commissioner,” Alvarez said.

“Maybe if my coterminous staff were not issued termination notices immediately after the turnover last Monday, the transition could have been smoother,” he added.

Walking papers

Alvarez said five members of his staff were given their walking papers on Tuesday, while another 14 were transferred to another section.

“That should have been done only if they already had a parallel organization in place,” Alvarez said.

He said the BOC Management Information Systems and Technology Group also changed the computer access codes, depriving his former staff access to the computer network.

He said Biazon’s staff could have also inquired with the BOC investigation division chief, Dino Tuazon, about the documents concerning the missing container vans.

Overwhelmed?

“The investigation division investigated the missing vans and came out with a report which was submitted to Congress and the Office of the Customs Commissioner so they also have records,” Alvarez said.

Alvarez said he had called Biazon and assured him he was ready to help clear up any confusion.

“This is understandable because they’re still on their first week and may have not met everyone at the BOC. They might have been overwhelmed,” he added.

Originally posted at 07:36 pm | Thursday, September 22, 2011