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THE Bureau of Customs incurred a P17.5-billion
collection shortfall last year, the biggest and worse in the
bureau’s 106-year history. The agency collected P210.5 billion in
2007 which is short of the P228-billion target.
The bureau’s miserable
collection performance was admitted by Customs Commissioner Napoleon
Morales in the presence of the Senate President Manuel Villar and
Finance Secretary Margarito Teves during Wednesday’s celebration
of the bureau’s 106th founding anniversary.
But even then, Morales stressed
that last year’s collection was far better compared to the
collection in 2006. Morales blamed the collection shortfall on the
strengthening of the peso against the dollar, and the reduced tariff
rates imposed on many imported goods in compliance with the
country’s commitment to international trade agreements.
“The bureau collected P210.5
billion, a new chart-topper, exceeding 2006 collections by over P12
billion or 6.2 percent,” Morales said, adding that 11 of the 15
ports also surpassed their 2006 collection performance.
Morales was also all praises to
the bureau’s antismuggling drive and other measures he
implemented.
He mentioned, among others, the
updated valuation database, which curtailed rampant oil smuggling
and enabled the bureau to collect an additional P3.9 billion. A top
Customs official earlier said that government is losing at least P5
billion a year from oil smuggling.
Morales also said the bureau’s
Intelligence and Enforcement Group had a sterling performance
against smuggling, confiscating over P2.2 billion in counterfeit
goods and contrabands from over 500 shipments.
Rhetorics, no substance
But one bureau employee commented
that “Morales’ [anniversary] speech was rich in rhetorics but
lacking in substance.”
Morales also boasted that the
bureau, through its Run After the Smugglers Program, filed a total
of 60 criminal cases against 265 respondents covering P1.54-billion
worth of shipments. Sadly, however, none of them were “big
fish.”
Morales also made mention of the
P3-billion x-ray scanning project, where 19 are already deployed in
nine ports, and 11 more are set to be deployed in five ports this
year.
However, a ranking Customs
official doubted the capability of the machines, saying these are
not really capable of determining what’s inside container vans.
--William B. Depasupil
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