Sevilla’s ‘stellar record in 16 months of service at BOC’

In a statement on Thursday, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said:

“The numbers do not lie: As head of the customs reform team, he (resigned Customs Commissioner John Phillip Sevilla) has helped grow the bureau’s collections by 21 percent year-on-year in 2014 versus 5 percent in the pre-reform period, transformed Customs to be one of the most radically open and transparent agencies in government, has made government regulation more efficient for doing business in the country, and has taken great strides to thwart graft, technical and outright smuggling by filing cases, alert orders and seizures against erring importers, brokers and officials. The Bureau of Customs is the most improved national government agency in terms of revenue collection last year, thanks in no small part to the person who led it.

“Amid these results, I respect his well-discerned decision to resign. In a span of a year and half, he has shown us that what was then impossible is now possible. It is possible to hope that we can transform institutions, with uncompromising courage and integrity.

“A product of Cornell and Princeton, Commissioner Sevilla has served the public well in his lengthy career in government. Even with his stellar record of six years as undersecretary under two secretaries of finance in his belt, I think unleashing transformative reform in the Bureau of Customs will remain to be one of the pinnacles of his legacy in government. There is always a time when one has to rest and take leave: Today is one such day for a fine public servant who has waged the good fight against corruption well.”—Jerry E. Esplanada