MANILA, Philippines?(UPDATE) The Bureau of Customs, perceived to be the country's most corrupt government agency and beyond redemption at that, "needs a major transformation," according to newly installed BOC Commissioner Angelito A. Alvarez.
Alvarez, who took over the reins of the agency, admitted that improving the agency's negative image would be his "biggest challenge."
But Alvarez, called "AAA" by BOC staff, expressed confidence it could be done.
"Very confident ako (I feel very confident here)..There'll be positive changes here," the former chair of the Philippine Basketball Association told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
In the 2009 Social Weather Stations survey of enterprises on corruption, the BOC obtained the highest margins of worsening corruption with -41 percent. Others with big margins of worsening corruption were the Bureau of Internal Revenue (34 percent), Department of Public Works and Highways (-28), and the Office of the President (-14).
The BOC also got very bad ratings of -69, followed by DPWH (-65) and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (-57) in terms of service.
The same agencies registered the highest margins of worsening corruption in 2008, said SWS.
According to Alvarez, "we should believe in the goodness of men."
Citing his previous dealings with BOC personnel as a FedEx top executive, he said "they are open to changes. Mababait naman ang mga 'yan (They?re good people)."
Alvarez said "leadership by example" would help him institute the necessary reforms at the Department of Finance-attached agency.
"The quality of governance under me will be a lot better," he said matter-of-factly.
In addition to meeting the BOC's revenue targets, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima has issued the following marching orders to Alvarez:
* "Zero tolerance for corruption." According to Alvarez, "this includes identifying smugglers" and Customs personnel they are dealing with.
* Institutionalizing the system of "top to bottom" lifestyle checks. "They should be part of the process...They will cover all officials and rank-and-file personnel of the agency," he said.
* Transparency in all BOC transactions. "There is a need to change the (BOC) image...Pag sinabing Customs, parang laging may nakadikit na pera. (When one mentions Customs, people think of money) Automation will play an important role here ," he noted.
* No more "palakasan" (or influence peddling). According to Alvarez, BOC personnel should "make extra efforts in speeding up the clearing of of goods and processing of export transactions."
At the same, he announced that there would be no immediate reshuffle of personnel.
"We'll maintain the status quo. Top performing ports should share their best practices with poor performing ones, who should be given a chance to meet their targets. If they continue to perform poorly, there'll be no excuses. There'll be drastic changes," he warned.
Alvarez also plans to recommend the abolition of the controversial Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group.
"I think they're not needed. All we need to do is strengthen the controls here at the bureau," he said.
Outgoing Commissioner Napoleon Morales expressed confidence Alvarez would "bring in the energy of a basketball court" in pushing the BOC in achieving its "vision of world-class service." (Alvarez was manager of the basketball team of Air21, the freight company).
Morales said he was leaving behind not just a "winning team" but also a "positive surplus score," referring to the agency's revenue collections of over P111 billion, in the first half of 2010, which was P7.34 billion more than the target.
Last year, the BOC was tasked by the finance department to collect at least P273.3 billion. However, it had a collection shortfall of P50 billion.
Morales earlier acknowledged "many of our assumptions did not materialize."
This year, the BOC's collection target is P280.7 billion.
The agency is counting mainly on its biggest collection districts like the Port of Manila, the country's premier gateway, as well as the Ninoy Aquino International Airport and the Batangas City and Limay, Bataan ports.
