Privatizing Customs worth looking into

President Benigno Aquino 3rd was piqued. In his State of the Nation Address last Monday, he revealed that corruption at the Bureau of Customs has perpetuated a culture of smuggling that has defied repeated efforts of government to weed out.

The annual loss from smuggling, lamented the President, is a staggering P200 billion. We share his disillusionment. The unrealized revenues could have funded key government projects. It could have expanded the reach of the conditional cash transfer program and helped lift hundreds of families more from poverty.