MANILA, Philippines -- Far from being embarrassed by the criticism he is getting for rewarding himself and his staff with roughly P500 million in bonuses in 2006, Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales has revealed that he and his people are in for a much bigger cash bonanza this year as skyrocketing oil prices have swelled the customs bureau’s value-added tax haul.

“The VAT on oil is big and there could be a little windfall,” said Morales.

When asked if it would approximate the P500 million in rewards that were distributed in 2006, he said, “it could be the same amount but probably much more.”

Morales said the BOC has already exceeded its six-month collection target by P613 million and was headed for a prosperous new year with the up-trend in oil prices expected to continue for the rest of the year.

He noted that the increased collections were being met even if the BOC has been collecting zero duties on oil (the President had ordered oil duties suspended if the price of oil hits more than $100 per barrel).

Not deserving

Senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Francis Escudero have criticized Morales for rewarding himself and his office staff, from directors to clerks, with a total of P537 million (P402 million in cash and P135 million in non-cash benefits) after the BOC revenue collections hit P198.2 billion in 2006, or P2.2 billion in excess of its target of P196 billion.

Enrile and Escudero said that Morales, who got the highest single reward of P5.3 million, did not deserve the reward because the improved collections were achieved not from better performance but from advance VAT payments for 2007 of the oil companies.

Morales is unperturbed by the criticism, insisting that the 2006 reward and the expected bonanza at the end of the year have a basis in the Lateral Attrition Law which provides for rewards and penalties for the BOC and the Bureau of Internal Revenue to encourage their staffs to boost revenue collections.

‘Not our fault’

“This is not Customs’ own doing. There was a committee created to implement the law and it was headed by the Department of Finance, with the National Economic and Development Authority, Department of Budget and Management and BOC as members,” he said.

Morales said the rewards system was set by the revenue evaluation board and the distribution is based on “a study by the US Agency for International Development made up of bright men and women from UP [the University of the Philippines].”

“[The evaluation] took seven months and we had seminars before we implemented it. When we submitted it to the DOF, it was approved in toto,” said Morales.

Asked whether he and the BOC staff should also be held accountable for the estimated P150 billion lost annually from smuggling, Morales said that most of the charges made by the senators, such as the P13 billion worth of vehicles smuggled into the country since 2001, occurred before his term.