Projects to modernize BOC underway – Customs chief Sevilla

The new leadership at Bureau of Customs (BOC) is focusing on modernizing the agency infrastructure this year, including a single information technology (IT) platform.  

 

“We need to improve the capacity of our IT systems to comply with needed reforms,” newly-sworn Customs Commissioner John Phillip “Sunny” Sevilla said at his first press conference on Tuesday.

 

Last month, Sevilla was picked by President Benigno S. Aquino III to assume the Customs Commissioner post since the then-Customs chief Rozzano Rufino Biazon stepped down after he was  named by the Department of Justice as respondent together with 33 others to a malversation case involving the pork barrel scam.

 

Sevilla said the BOC is now studying the implementation of single IT platform for all Customs transactions, like record-keeping of trade data and import certificates. 

 

This involves improving the planned P442.3-million National Single Window (NSW) network, which allows electronic transfer of trade data and documents among government agencies. 

 

Economic managers expect the network as part of the compliance with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) single window by 2015. They envision the NSW to make it easier for traders to do business with the government, but the project has not been rolled-out. 

 

Sevilla, however, noted that under the current format the NSW only consolidates import permits from all government agencies but without the computation of duties integrated into the network. 

 

“It would be of greater functionality if we integrate everything,” the Customs chief said. 

 

“We have to understand what the constraints are now, and after that we will have to either create a new NSW or update the current plan,” he added. 

 

Customs ng Bayan

On Thursday, the BOC unveiled the “Customs ng Bayan” initiative, which the agency described as the first in many steps to improve transparency and accountability.

 

“We are committed to transparency. We want to show everybody that we are serious,” Sevilla said at the press conference Tuesday.  

 

Customs ng Bayan will display almost each importation into the Philippines on a monthly basis starting Dec. 2013. 

 

Each item lists the specific quantity (measured by weight) of daily imports of a trader. It also includes information like description of the item imported, its Harmonized Standard (HS) code number and standard HS code description, country of origin, its value, and the amount of duties and taxes collected for the item.

 

For December, Customs ng Bayan listed 88,006 items. The data in Microsoft Excel format can be downloaded from: www.customs.gov.ph/import-reports/ or www.dof.gov.ph/?page_id=3762 or www.dof.gov.ph/customsngbayan.

 

“We’re releasing information that the public has the right to know,” Sevilla said. “If they see anything wrong with the data they can report it. We hope they will share that information... The more specific their feedback, the better.” 

 

According to the BOC, the public may share information by sending an e-mail message to import.valuation@customs.gov.ph. 

 

As much the BOC wants to share import information real time, Sevilla said they are facing technical constraints. “Our internal systems are not ready for that. Daily data is something that’s under review, but the solution is long-term,” he noted. 

 

The big picture

The BOC is keen on going after companies involved in smuggling – particularly rice – than going after specific personalities like a certain David Tan, an alleged big-time rice smuggler. 

 

The agency is "not getting fixated" on determining whether David Tan is fictitious or not, said Sevilla, noting that every import has a consignee.

 

“It has a consignee who is legally accountable to the Bureau of Customs,” he said. “So even if hindi namin alam kung meron talagang David Tan at kung sino siya, hahabulin pa rin namin yung consignee, because we know know who the consignees are and if they are bringing in rice without import permits.”

 

At the same briefing, BOC Deputy Commissioner Jessie Dellosa, who heads the bureau's intelligence group, said they are already profiling different alleged groups involved in rice smuggling. 

 

Dellosa said the BOC seized 1,937 container vans of rice without permits since October last year. – VS, GMA News