NEWLY installed Customs commissioner Angelito Alvarez has ordered a crackdown on all unauthorized or, in local parlance, “hao shao” staff to reduce illegal activities at the Bureau of Customs (BOC).
Customs head executive assistant Atty. Ferdinand Nague confirmed to PortCalls that “the deputy commissioner for administration has already received a marching order from Office of the Commissioner to determine non-organic BOC personnel.”
The aim of the crackdown, he said, is to promote transparency at the BOC, a major thrust of the Aquino administration.
“We have already issued a twin memo dated July 12 for the conduct of an inventory of BOC personnel nationwide to properly determine ‘hao shao’ personnel who milk the bureau (dry),” Nague said.
“We have no headcount yet and it is also a long process. But once the measure has been fully implemented it will drastically decongest BOC offices.”
As an initial measure, BOC security personnel nationwide have been ordered to bar entry of individuals without proper identification. Those needing a customs pass will have to first submit pertinent documents to the BOC for proper recording and identification.
Aside from cleaning its ranks, the BOC is also busy identifying big-time smugglers after it committed to file cases against at least two smugglers every two weeks.
A list of big-time smugglers has already been compiled but Nague refused to give details. He hinted though that the BOC will likely start filing cases as early as next week.
Earlier, commissioner Alvarez said he will introduce numerous changes in the agency, some of which will be borrowed from the private sector.
His action plan includes prosecuting two big-time smugglers every two weeks; zero tolerance against corruption; plugging revenue loopholes; promoting transparency and trade facilitation through further automation; implementing international best practices under the Revised Kyoto Convention; strengthening the post-entry audit system so the bureau can go after more tax evaders; and introducing promotion policies patterned after the private sector.
