Lina: I acted in gov’t’s best interest

Saying that “God is my witness” and “my conscience is clear,” the new chief of the Bureau of Customs said there was “nothing irregular” about the revocation of a P650-million deal between the bureau and the joint venture of Omniprime Marketing and Intrasoft International even after the contract had been bid out.

Customs Commissioner Alberto Lina on Tuesday acknowledged that “P650 million was the approved budget for the Integrated Electronic Customs Processing System (IECPS), the cancellation of which we recommended.”

However, he said, “there are existing systems that can fulfill the needs of the bureau, which are potentially at least 50 percent cheaper.”

“After determining that market conditions have changed and there were other customs data systems that were more efficient, cost-effective and advantageous to the government, I decided to seek the abandonment of the current IECPS under the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management,” he said.

In a phone interview, Lina said the move was “definitely in the best interests of the government.”

He said he was “committed to modernize the bureau with the latest technologies while providing the best value for the government.”

“Also, the decision (to revoke the deal) had the blessing of higher-ups,” he told the Inquirer, referring to Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima, as well as his predecessor, ex-Customs Commissioner John Phillip Sevilla, and Primo Aguas, former deputy commissioner for the Management Information System and Technology Group, among others.

Harry Roque, counsel of the winning bidder, claimed Lina’s decision to cancel the deal “reeks of the foul smell of a clear conflict of interest.”

The joint venture won the contract on April 13 after a seven-month public bidding process. The contract was finalized on April 23 and was scheduled to be signed by the end of this month.

On April 23, Malacañang named Lina new BOC commissioner replacing Sevilla. Two weeks later, Lina issued a notice to the Department of Budget and Management canceling the deal.

“Curiously, one of the five losing bidders in the project, E-Konek, is a company in which Lina has a 96.48-percent stake,” Roque told a news conference early this week.

E-Konek is run by Lina’s business partner, Guillermo Parayno Jr., himself a former Customs commissioner, Roque said.

“Moreover, the corporation behind the current antiquated system used by the Bureau of Customs — Webb Fontaine — has beneficial business relations with E-Konek,” the lawyer added.

Lina dismissed as “baseless” the claims that E-Konek’s losing bid for the IEPCS was the reason for the cancellation of the procurement program.

“To stamp out any lingering doubts that this is the case, E-konek will not participate in any further bidding for this project, given my public commitment that there will be no conflict of interest during my stint at the Bureau of Customs,” he said.

According to Lina, the BOC was “committed to work toward the delivery of our Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) commitments.”

The Philippines and other Asean members have agreed on a common window system to fast-track cargo clearance as part of their efforts toward regional economic integration.

“In the current National Single Window system, 37 of the 40 oversight agencies are already connected to the system in varying levels of utilization with 11 agencies completely connected, 9 connected but only partially utilize the system and 10 agencies already have viewing capacity,” he said.