BOC looking to set up Customs Academy

The Bureau of Customs (BOC) is eyeing the establishment of a Customs Academy to professionalize and improve the proficiency of Customs employees, according to a report by Mark Salazar on Balitanghali on Tuesday.

The Philippines is apparently one of the only remaining countries in the world without an official school for its personnel. The "best" ones, meanwhile, are in Indonesia and Malaysia, which Philippine customs officials are seeking to emulate.

Senior customs delegates on Tuesday ceremonially opened the 27th Meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Coordinating Committee without BOC chief Isidro Lapeña, who has been sent by the Department of Finance to Russia to iron out trade ties with the country.

Customs officials are pushing for the creation of joint exercises among ASEAN member countries on customs enforcement in order to further strengthen the government’s actions against the movement of illegal drugs in the country.

In May this year, a multi-billion peso shipment of shabu was seized by authorities at a warehouse in Valenzuela City, prompting an onslaught of attention and criticism against the BOC, which has long been notorious for alleged corruption.

Lapeña has announced a plan to hire thousands of new employees from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, a move that was protested by current Customs workers.

Lapeña was former PDEA chief. —Nicole-Anne C. Lagrimas /KG, GMA News