THE Philippine Bureau of Customs (BOC) has created a technical working group (TWG) to draft the rules and regulations for implementing a unified identification system for customs brokers, importers and stakeholders to be used in all ports.
Days before he resigned as Customs Commissioner, Rozzano Rufino Biazon told PortCalls the shift from multiple IDs to a single, unified ID is in response to the stakeholders’ clamor.
Customs Special Order No. 62-2013 dated Nov. 29 has assigned nine BOC personnel to man the TWG. They are Directors Ma. Corazon Azaña from the Administration Office and Willie Tolentino from the Enforcement and Security Service (ESS); SPAS Marlon Alameda, district commander, Ninoy Aquino International Airport, ESS; Maj. Ramon Policarpio, district commander, Port of Manila, ESS; Capt. Mariano Biteng, district commander, Manila International Container Port, ESS, Atty. Manuel Zurbito, ESS-POM; Atty. Gilbert Ordoño, ESS, MICP; SA 1 Byron Carbonnel, ESS, NAIA; and Atty. Gerard Turiano, Interim Customs Accreditation Registration Unit.
The order took immediate effect.
The Assessment and Operations Coordinating Group is preparing a customs memorandum order for the ID system.
Currently, customs brokers need to obtain separate IDs for different ports, and even for different storage areas such as those at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
“The idea is to have one for the convenience of everyone,” Biazon said.
In a dialogue with stakeholders initiated by the Chamber of Customs Brokers Inc. and the Aduana Business Club Inc., brokers asked Biazon to implement the unified ID system as part of the legacy he will be leaving the bureau.
Biazon announced his irrevocable resignation from the BOC on Dec 2 after having been named by the Department of Justice as a respondent together with 33 others in a malversation case connected to the P10-billion pork barrel scam.––Roumina M. Pablo
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