82, and counting, erring BOC men facing charges

Eighty-two frontline personnel of the Bureau of Customs are facing administrative charges for alleged collusion with smugglers whose misdeclared and undervalued imports have cost the government billions of pesos in lost revenue, according to the Public Information and Assistance Division of the agency. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines–Eighty-two frontline personnel of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) are facing administrative charges for alleged collusion with smugglers whose misdeclared and undervalued imports have cost the government billions of pesos in lost revenue, according to the Public Information and Assistance Division of the agency.

A top customs official, meanwhile, disclosed that another 11 employees of the bureau were the subject of “case buildup” procedures being conducted by the BOC’s Intelligence Group.

The official, who asked not to be named for lack of authority to speak to media, did not identify the “erring personnel.”

Customs Commissioner John Phillip Sevilla said the bureau would intensify its “internal controls” to weed out corrupt employees.

Sevilla, a former finance undersecretary for privatization, issued the warning, citing the recent arrest of a retired customs employee who allegedly extorted money from a local trader at Manila’s North Harbor.

Serious campaign

The Intelligence Group identified the suspect as Freddie Ruba, a former guard at the office of North Harbor port collector Rene Agulan. Ruba was arrested on May 23 by a joint team of intelligence agents and Manila policemen in an entrapment operation at North Harbor.

He had allegedly demanded P15,000 from businessman Rodencio Brillantes to facilitate the release of the latter’s shipment—a 20-foot container van of noodles from Cebu. Brillantes filed a formal complaint.

On top of criminal charges for robbery and extortion, Ruba faces administrative sanctions for violation of the BOC Code of Conduct and government policies governing civil servants.

“Let this be a warning to all that we are serious about our campaign against corruption,” Sevilla said.

The BOC head urged traders, brokers and others doing business with the bureau to “help us in this effort by formalizing complaints and giving us verifiable details and leads that our internal investigators and supervisors can validate.”

“There are procedures we need to follow in disciplining our personnel and we enjoin you to help us in this regard by documenting the misdeeds,” he said, adding “we will protect the confidentiality of your reports.”

Unprecedented

Earlier, Sevilla said he was encouraged by the fact that the IG “has issued an unprecedented number of alert orders on shipments that were potentially undervalued or misclassified.”

“Ninety percent of these shipments had adverse or derogatory findings, leading to higher collections for the government,” he noted.

According to the customs chief, “this tells us two things: first, that importers have been so used to the system of corruption in the bureau and colluding with customs personnel that they thought they could get away with the gross undervaluation of their imports. Second, with our 90-percent success rate in finding problems in import entries, the bureau is actually not alerting and examining enough shipments.”–Jerry E. Esplanada