BOC orders local committees to weed out corruption in the country’s ports
The Bureau of Customs (BOC) has given more power as well as responsibility to the country’s ports to weed out corruption and get rid of the bad eggs within their ranks.
This would be made possible by the establishment of anti-corruption committees at each of the 17 ports — the first-of-its-kind body aimed at wiping out corrupt practices at the collection-district level.
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 (PACC) 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 anti-corruption 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 anti-corruption committee at BOC’s 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 who were on top of each port shall 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 towards more transparent transactions which were now online, recorded and validated by the country’s second-biggest tax-collection agency.
