Overhaul Customs bureau—Escudero

Senator Francis Escudero. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero on Wednesday called for an overhaul of the Bureau of Customs, saying it should be blamed for widespread oil smuggling in the country.

“The Lateral Attrition Law mandates penalties on government personnel who fail to perform their duties. The unabated smuggling of oil products and other commodities indicates a massive failure of the BoC requiring top to bottom changes to be effected within the agency,” Escudero said in a statement.

Escudero’s  statements  came  amid allegations that one in every three liters of oil products being shipped into the country was smuggled, which  costs the government P30 billion  in revenue losses a year.

It would not be a surprise, he said that the same equation applies to other products that enters the country.

“Identifying smuggled products does not require sophistication since products being sold far below the average price in the market are probably smuggled. My question to the Customs bureau is: Why can’t it use this simple rule in investigating reports of smuggling?” Escudero asked.

The senator then urged the government to immediately file charges against erring Customs officials and personnel, as well as members of smuggling syndicates amid presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda’s claim that the government already knows the identity of big-time smugglers in the country.

He also urged the government to coordinate with private sector groups and individuals who had undertaken studies on the extent of smuggling activities in the country.

“Smuggling not only deprives the government of revenues but also annihilates local industries that in turn forces local manufacturers to close shop and lay off workers, adding to the unemployment burden,” Escudero said.

He pointed out that factories that generate the most number of jobs for poor Filipinos are the main victims of widespread smuggling in the country.