DoF chief not to blame but must help clean up Customs

THE call for the resignation of Department of Finance (DoF) Secretary Carlos Dominguez 3rd by the watchdog group Coalition Against Corruption (CAC) was an expression of the frustration the entire country feels over the pervasive and seemingly unstoppable corruption in the Bureau of Customs (BoC). Heaping all the blame for the bureau’s problems on Dominguez by reason of command responsibility and forcing him to step down, however, is a not a solution.

The statement issued by the anti-corruption group on Tuesday blasted the DoF chief for his “deathly silence” on the drug smuggling scandal that has engulfed the Customs, as well as the DoF’s lack of “visible initiative to curb corruption” in both the BoC and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).