Senate panel to inspect Customs facilities

MANILA, Philippines — Amid the influx of smuggled items into the country, members of the Senate committee on ways and means will inspect today the Bureau of Customs (BOC) facilities in Manila’s Port Area.

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, who chairs the committee, said he wants to assess the BOC modernization program that many lawmakers suspect may have been deliberately delayed by some officials who do not want the computerization of customs processes.

“We notice the influx of smuggled goods continue and we need to address this problem immediately especially now it’s Christmas season and a lot of Filipinos will be doing their groceries and shopping,” Gatchalian said in Filipino.

Also joining the inspection are officials of the Senate Tax Study and Research Office.

He expressed optimism that the agency’s ongoing modernization program would help arrest incidence of smuggling in the country.

“The BOC’s revenue collection performance would improve if the smuggling of various goods is effectively addressed,” said Gatchalian, adding that higher budgetary allocations to finance the government’s projects can be realized if revenue-collecting agencies are able to meet their target.

BOC agents earlier have intercepted more than P63 million worth of frozen goods from Hong Kong and China. Last week, the government confiscated a cargo of 100,000 kilos of white onions, which were undervalued and misdeclared as bread and pastries.

A major component of the agency’s modernization program focuses on transitioning from a largely manual and paper-based organization to a modernized customs agency, achieving global standards and full modernization by 2024.

The program also involves the integration of the Ports of Manila, Cebu and Davao, and the Manila International Container Port to the Customs Operations Center located in the bureau’s head office in Port Area, Manila.