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Philippines: Customs automates 82% of procedures
MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Customs has automated roughly 82 percent of its procedures under the Duterte administration through its modernization program, an accomplishment that the BOC says allowed it to exceed its collection targets even during the pandemic.
The BOC yesterday reported that it streamlined at least 139 of its 170 processes in the six years of the Duterte administration.
Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero said the automation of procedures allowed the agency to bring in the revenues required from it by the government.
In 2020, the BOC raised P537.69 billion in taxes to surpass its revenue target of P506.15 billion. Last year, the agency tasked to man the ports generated P643.56 billion to beat its collection goal of P616.75 billion, overshooting even its pre-pandemic total of P630.31 billion in 2019.
Guerrero said the agency collected an additional P1.5 billion through its post-clearance audit of 342 importers. Further, the BOC contributed another P895.95 million to state coffers from 176 applications in its prior disclosure programs.
In a report to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, Guerrero said the BOC completed its integration of the Manila International Container Port and the Ports of Manila, Cebu, and Davao with the Customs Operations Center in Manila City.
Under Duterte’s term, Guerrero said the BOC linked up with the Cargo Targeting System of the World Customs Organization to require all foreign vessels to transmit shipping information in advance for security purposes.
The customs chief said the agency can now track, monitor, and audit the location, as well as the condition of containers through the electronic tracking of containerized cargo system.
On the internal end, Guerrero said the agency procured 200 body-worn cameras and purchased 20 patrol boats to strengthen its efforts to protect the country’s borders. Administratively, he also approved the reshuffling of 3,855 workers, show-cause orders for 1,407 personnel, filing of administrative charges against 183 employees, and dismissal of 24 agents from service.
Last year the BOC also resolved all of the 642 citizen complaints brought before it. Despite reforms, nearly all of the presidential candidates recently voted the BOC as the most corrupt agencies in government.
In response, Dominguez said the modernization program implemented by the BOC under Guerrero’s leadership should be credited for the revenues that it remitted to the government at the height of the pandemic.
Without the BOC’s contribution, Dominguez said, the government would have ben compelled to borrow instead to bankroll its pandemic response to the detriment of its fiscal space.
Source: https://www.philstar.com/business/2022/03/25/2169644/customs-automates-82-procedures