Increasing the salary of Bureau of Customs (BOC) officials and employees will be one of the priorities for implementation under the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act (CMTA), Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon said.
“We want to increase the salaries of our rank and file,” Faeldon told media in a recent chance interview.
Faeldon noted the “really low” salary of BOC officials and employees, adding these should be addressed to “encourage competitive employees.”
He said the customs agency is now reviewing “acceptable, doable increases.”
Before former customs commissioner Alberto Lina stepped down from his post, BOC formed a technical working group to look at increasing employee compensation, as stated under CMTA.
Under Section 202 (i) of the CMTA, the BOC is to recommend to the President a competitive compensation and remuneration system that will attract and retain highly qualified personnel while maintaining the bureau’s financial sustainability.
Other former customs commissioners had also asked for a salary increase for customs employees as a way to curb corruption in the bureau.
Faeldon said he has promised business groups that the final draft of the implementing rules and regulations of CMTA, which was signed last May, will be finished within July for the review of stakeholders before being finalized.
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