BOC creates anti-graft teams at 17 PH ports

TARGETTING CORRUPTION The Bureau of Customs is making more transactions online to ensure transparency. —FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Customs (BOC) has established anticorruption committees at each of the country’s 17 international ports in a bid to weed out corruption and get rid of the bad eggs within its ranks.

Customs Assistant Commissioner Vincent Philip Maronilla this month ordered all district collectors to chair these committees in line with the BOC and the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission’s “Project Kasangga.”

In a phone interview, Maronilla said these regional committees would allow the BOC to act on corruption complaints more expeditiously.

Maronilla explained that, at present, personnel or activities tainted with corruption were being endorsed to the BOC central office’s internal investigation and inquiry division for action. As such, cases tended to pile up while under probe.

“We’ll decongest the central office of local complaints,” he said.

Through the local anticorruption committees, the collection districts themselves can initiate investigation with the help of deputized port stakeholders from the private sector, Maronilla said. At present, district collectors could only reshuffle those suspected of corrupt practices.

The ports can also recommend dismissal as well as filing of administrative or criminal cases against erring customs personnel.

A central anticorruption committee at the BOC head office would, in turn, review these recommendations coming from the districts and endorse them to Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero, who ultimately acts on these complaints.

Also, Maronilla said the district collectors on top of each port would now be assessed based on their performance in eradicating corruption as well as acting on complaints under prescribed timelines.

“If they are not able to perform well, then that will be one of the basis for them to be relieved from their posts,” Maronilla said. “If you’re supervising your own people, you must have the power to discipline them.”

Maronilla said the BOC was moving toward more transparent transactions, which were now online, recorded and validated by the country’s second-biggest tax-collection agency.