Dropping Duterte’s name BOC warned of scammers asking campaign funds

CEBU, Philippines — Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero has cautioned officials and employees of the Bureau of Customs against unscrupulous individuals allegedly dropping the name of President Rodrigo Duterte to solicit campaign funds for the administration’s senatorial candidates.

 In a statement, Guerrero said he received reports that certain individuals claiming to have been ordered by the President are soliciting funds from businessmen and BOC officials.

The funds will be used allegedly to help the senatorial candidates that Duterte personally endorsed.

According to Guerrero, the President never authorized or ordered anyone to solicit money intended for the campaign on his behalf.

All Customs stakeholders are advised to immediately report these individuals to the Customs helpdesk, BOC-CARES at 705-6000 or send a message to the official Facebook page, Bureau of Customs PH.

The statement added that victims of such money-making scheme may also report to the National Bureau of Investigation or to other law enforcement agencies.

Meanwhile, Guerrero has issued Customs Administrative Order 02-2019 entitled Marking of Imported Goods and Containers, which provides for the guidelines on the marking of imported goods with the country of origin.

It said that marking of imported goods and their containers will protect the consumers from the deceptive practice of passing off imported articles as coming from a particular country other than its actual country of origin.

The CAO will also help the BOC monitor the marking duty imposed and collected on the goods through the use of information and communication technology.

CAO 02-2019 stipulates that “all goods of foreign origin imported into the Philippines or their containers, shall be conspicuously marked in any official language of the Philippines as legibly, indelibly and permanently as the nature of goods or container will permit and in such manner as to indicate to an ultimate purchaser or end-user or consumer in the Philippines the name of the country of origin of the goods.”

Under said CAO, the character of words and phrases or abbreviation to be used in the marking of imported goods shall be based on the United Nations Terminology Database (UNTERM) by means of printing, stenciling, stamping, branding, or labeling. — FPL (FREEMAN)