More reforms: Customs rotates intelligence staff

Rappler.com

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More reforms: Customs rotates intelligence staff
About 80% of them pulled out from their 'comfort zones'

MANILA, Philippines – The Bureau of Customs (BOC) reassigned 142 officers and staff to various offices in a massive revamp that’s part of efforts to weed out corruption at the agency.

The move to rotate intelligence group (IG) personnel in 17 major collection districts and the different divisions of the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service was meant to make them responsive and supportive of the commissioner’s reform thrust, the bureau said in a statement.

The bureau started reviewing the staff and deployment patterns both at its main headquarters and the frontlines. Noting that many of the personnel have been in their assignments and positions for many years, Deputy Commissioner Jessie Dellosa sought approval for a rotation, affecting more than 80% of the intelligence personnel.

Per Customs Personnel Order (CPO) No. B-42-2014, the IG personnel were plucked from their comfort zones in an effort to make them responsive and relevant, and help them develop greater situational awareness by exposing them to different environments and other aspects of Customs operations, acting chief of the BOC’s Public Information and Assistance Division Charo Logarta Lagamon said.

Another order, CPO No. B-40-2014, detailed 3 ranking Customs officials to the Customs Policy Research Office under the Department of Finance. These officials include Rolando Sacramento, Chief of the Intelligence Division of CIIS; Limay District Collector Elvira Cruz; and Customs Intelligence Officer Jimmy Guban. 

Both CPOs, signed May 26 by Customs Commissioner John Sevilla and approved by Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima, are effective immediately.

The CPOs are part of a string of changes at the bureau, among them, the appointment of new top-level officials and the return of employees to their mother units.

The Customs began implementing reforms late last year in an effort to plug holes in its collection system and generate more revenues for the government.

Alert orders, seizures

Since stepping up intelligence and enforcement activities in September 2013, the BOC has issued over 1,000 alert orders on various types of shipments nationwide, about 80% of which were found to have been misdeclared, had discrepancies in weight or volume or were found to be liable for additional duties and taxes. These efforts, including closer coordination with other government agencies, have also resulted in higher amounts of seizures of prohibited and restricted imports with over P5.7 billion in counterfeit goods seized from January to March 2014.

Apart from the personnel rotation initiative, continuing training and tradecraft skills upgrade to develop capabilities and competence; rejuvenation of the BOC’s resource support system for administration, operations and intelligence activities; acquisition of vehicles and equipment for enhanced operations; and plans for recruitment of new personnel to increase frontline coverage are also interventions identified to strengthen the frontlines.

To maximize the limited human and operational resources and reduce overlaps, review of policies and procedures are being done to promote interoperability among the different offices of the BOC and the collection districts. The IG has also been liaising with other law enforcement agencies to harness their support for Customs operations. – Rappler.com

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