THE Federation of Philippine Industries (FPI) has reiterated its desire to secure copies of inward foreign manifests submitted by shippers to the Bureau of Customs (BOC) in its bid to help curb smuggling.
“We want the BOC to release incoming ships’ inward foreign manifests to concerned agencies, publish updated reference values of commodities, and acquire grossly undervalued imports,” FPI chair Jesus Arranza said in a recent statement after meeting new Customs commissioner Angelito Alvarez.
FPI said it is also willing to help BOC secure financing to acquire undervalued imports, including warehousing of goods, and buy seized goods at market value.
“By and large, the FPI is satisfied with the sincerity of the new commissioner and FPI will lend its full support to the new commissioner,” Arranza said. “We observed that we will have a better working relationship with the new customs chief, and definitely we see improvement from the previous one in terms of determination and sincerity to fight smuggling.”
Government estimates it loses about P200 billion each year due to smuggling.
