Escudero proposes unique rehab of customs bureau

Re-electionist Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero . INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – A “pocket-less” uniform and “drawer-less” tables for  employees of the graft-ridden Bureau  of  Customs  are being  proposed  by  re-electionist Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero.

“Hindi ko sinasabing lahat sila corrupt (I’m not saying they are all corrupt). Personal ko yun (this is personal to me) but you have to change the image and the impression that has been created 12 years,” Escudero said in an interview with INQUIRER.net  team.

“Di ba pag sinabi mong BOC, Bureau of Customs, drawer agad ang papasok sa isip ng lahat ng broker at importer.  So tanggalin natin, ganitong lamesa, salamin, walang drawer. Kung ang uniporme sinasabi nila palaging humihingi, nilalagay sa bulsa, tanggalin din natin yun.”

(Isn’t that when you say BOC, Bureau of Customs,  what comes to mind of  all the brokers  and importers is the drawer ? So let’s remove that kind of table, let’s put a mirror instead, no drawer.  If they say that the money went to the pockets of their uniforms, then let’s remove those also.)

“I’m not saying all of them are. But let’s start to clean up the image of the BOC, let’s start to avoid temptations, let’s try to remove discretion,” the senator added.

The BOC was still perceived as a corruption-riddled government agency, ranking fifth in a Pulse Asia survey of offices that Filipinos singled out for incidents of graft.

Escudero said brokers and importers have been complaining how Customs employees allegedly slept  on their documents  and would not act on these unless they pay them.

The senator brought  up the  problems in the  BOC  when he was  explaining why he was seeking another six years in the Senate when he had already served as legislator  for 15 years –  nine years in the House of Representatives and six years in the Senate.

Escudero said he would like to return to the Senate to sustain the clean governance that President  Benigno Aquino III has started.

“I used to be an non-believer in these things but I’ve grown to see that sa tuwid na daan lang, sa malinis na pamamahala maski na ng Presidente lang, napakalaking mga positibong bagay na pwedeng mangyari at nangyayari ngayon sa ating bans,” he said.

“So I take it upon myself as a challenge how to sustain this clean governance that [President Aquino] began. How? I’m following one basic rule. Discretion equals corruption. If you minimize discretion, you’ll minimize corruption. If you eliminate discretion in government, you’ll always eliminate corruption,” the senator added.