Lapeña sacks 38 Customs officials in clean-up drive

Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapeña (center) speaks during a forum at the Manila Hotel. INQUIRER FILE

Following Customs Chief Isidro Lapeña’s order to stop corruption and benchmarking in ports, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) sacked eight district collectors and 30 section chiefs, the largest number since he assumed office.

“There will be more reshuffling if the BOC personnel will not cooperate with the reforms we are making,” Lapeña said on Monday.

“I told everyone there, I will work within the bureau. I will be one of them. But we must be all moving in one direction, and that is removing corruption on all levels,” he added.

Lapeña named the relieved district collectors as Elvira Cruz of the Port of Cebu, Romeo Rosales of San Fernando, Julius Premediles of Limay, Jose Naig of Iloilo, Carmelita Talusan of Subic, Divina Garrido of Legazpi, Halleck Valdez of Zamboanga and Tomas Alcid of Appari.

The Customs chief said the relief, done through a Customs Personnel Order (CPO) released last October 4, was due either to their “incompetence in achieving targets” or for “practicing benchmarking.”

According to Lapeña, benchmarking involved “setting a certain value for an entire shipment” without considering the individual value of its content. This practice, he said, “often leads to importers giving tara” to Customs personnel to fast-track the processing of their shipment.

In separate CPOs on September 27, at total of 30 section chiefs from the Formal Entry Division of the Port of Manila and the Manila International Container Port (MICP) were also removed from their posts and reassigned to various provincial collection districts.

Consequently, Lapeña appointed some officials from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) which he previously headed.

Among these were Melvin Estoque from PDEA Regional Office VII, now the chief of Account Management Office, in charge of accrediting importers; Director Jeoffrey Tacio from PDEA Regional Office I, now the new leader of the Import Assessment Service; and PDEA Regional Office IV-B Director Jacquelyn De Guzman, now the officer in charge of the Administration office.

Lapeña said he would order the immediate inspection of more than 200 containers held under the alert order of resigned Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon.

Lapeña added that district collectors could now issue alert orders, which consignees should attend to within 48 hours.

He said he  ordered Estoque, the new head of the accounting office, to process permits and licenses in five days, provided that the applicant’s requirements are complete. /cbb