Bureau of Customs (BOC) | FILE PHOTO
The Bureau of Customs (BOC) has surpassed its collection target by 0.85 percent to P614.78 billion for the January-to-August period while it remains confident in its border enforcement actions.
The BOC’s collections in the first eight months of this year surpassed its target of P609.59 billion by P5.19 billion, and compared to the previous year, it’s a 5.72-percent increase from P33.29 billion.
The BOC is confident in its operations, especially its border enforcement actions, which resulted in the seizure of P61.16 billion worth of smuggled goods. It conducted 1,231 operations from January to August.
Counterfeit items, cigarettes, tobacco, vapor products, vehicles, accessories, and illegal drugs were among the agency’s most commonly confiscated commodities.
READ: BOC surpasses mid-year revenue target by P22.6 billion
The BOC likewise asserted it can carry out its responsibilities in the government’s campaign against the smuggling and hoarding of agricultural products under the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act despite allegations from farmers’ groups.
“The BOC has filed a lot [of cases], especially in agriculture products. So I think it’s unfair to reduce those allegations of collusion to the BOC even though the BOC has also implemented a policy of its own rank among the personnel,” Leon Mogao Jr., chief of the Intellectual Property Rights Division of BOC, said in an interview on Oct. 2.
Last week, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed into law Republic Act No. 12022, or the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act, which classifies smuggling, hoarding, profiteering and cartel operation involving agricultural and fishery goods as economic sabotage.
Jayson Cainglet, executive director of the Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (Sinag), emphasized that the industry’s main concern with the new law is ensuring that other stakeholders can file cases against smugglers and hoarders. This change is crucial for achieving convictions, as the previous law restricted this ability solely to the BOC.
“The real problem with the previous law is that the only one who can file a case is the BOC, so many of these are immediately dismissed from the prosecution because of lack of evidence,” Cainglet told Inquirer.
He said that about 80 percent of the cases filed by the BOC were dismissed.
“We are also looking at convictions, not raids and filing of cases. We are looking at one, two, or three with conviction because they know the case that BOC has finalized is weak due to lack of evidence,” Cainglet added.
Cainglet expressed optimism that with the new law, the government will be able to convict and imprison smugglers, profiteers, and hoarders of agricultural products.