FPI welcomes Aquino commitment to go after smugglers to address budget deficit

MANILA, Philippines - The Federation of Philippine Industries (FPI) welcomed the commitment of president-elect Benigno “Noy-noy” Aquino III to address the country’s growing budget deficit by going after smugglers.

“President-elect Aquino’s focus on smuggling is paramount since the revenues being stolen by smugglers will help significantly in solving the budget deficit,” said FPI chairman Jesus Lim Arranza.

“We are asking our new President to always keep an eye on the BOC (Bureau of Customs) since some Customs officials appear to be indifferent to this problem and are not cooperating with the efforts of the FPI,” he said.

Citing data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Arranza said the annual average value of Philippine importation from 2002 to 2007 amounted to $284.70 billion, while the BOC records only showed $195.01 billion or a disparity of $89.69 billion.

He said if the 12-percent value added tax and an average duty of five percent is counted on top of the disparity, it appears that the government is losing P127.075 billion per year.

Arranza said he has submitted to the BOC proposals to stop all types of smuggling. He also initiated the filing of cases against suspected smugglers before the Office of the Ombudsman.

This is pursuant to the memorandum of agreement signed between the FPI and the Office of the Ombudsman to intensify the campaign against anomalies involving businesses and their cohorts in government.

One of the cases filed is against Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales, former commissioner Guillermo Parayno Jr., and previous officers of a business group involving the contract for the encoding of import entries called the Automated System for Customs Data (Asycuda).

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, during a Senate hearing, said the deal is anomalous, noting that the BOC cannot assign a government function to the private sector.

Enrile said by allowing a private group to collect for the government the BOC violated the law because only Congress can authorize such transaction.