The Philippine Bureau of Customs (BOC) has bared plans for the mass promotion of personnel to incentivize professionalism as well as the acquisition of equipment to beef up enforcement activities, both part of the agency’s reform program.
BOC acting spokesperson for enforcement and intelligence operations Neil Anthony Estrella, in a Malacañang press briefing on November 25, said Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon “recently announced his desire to give a mass promotion to hundreds of BOC employees by December 2016.”
Estrella said the mass promotion will cover rank-and-file employees who have not been promoted in the past five years and have no pending cases. This will be the first mass promotion in the bureau in 12 years, he noted.
He added that Faeldon believes this will help boost the morale of employees, promote professionalism, and encourage employees to avoid corrupt activities.
In a separate chance interview with PortCalls on November 24, Enforcement Group deputy commissioner Ariel Nepomuceno said Faeldon also wants BOC to be classified as an enforcement agency, just like the Armed Forces of the Philippines and Philippine National Police, to qualify for higher benefits for employees.
He said Faeldon is likewise pushing for BOC’s exemption from the Salary Standardization Law to allow for higher salary grades for BOC employees.
He added that BOC will be recruiting 3,000 more personnel to fill 7,000 approved plantilla positions.
Aside from programs designed for BOC personnel, Nepomuceno said Faeldon has secured approval from President Rodrigo Duterte to acquire patrol vessels and x-ray machines. “He mentioned that the President is supporting him in that program,” Nepomuceno said.
The BOC has no vessels to monitor its ports and exercise its mandate.
He said the program involves acquiring 20 water patrol vessels to be used to foil smuggling, especially oil smuggling at sea. It also entails augmenting the current number of x-ray machines in the country.
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