Widespread anti-smuggling plan ready – Aquino

MANILA, Philippines – The government’s plans to address the widespread smuggling in the country are aimed at cleansing the Bureau of Customs of scalawags and misfits.

President Benigno Aquino III stressed this in a media interview on Wednesday, April 10, saying that only the date of implementation is pending before the anti-smuggling plan is rolled out. 

“I think, a lot of people will see that this is a widespread solution to the country’s problem on smuggling,” he said in the ceremonial groundbreaking of the Roxas City Airport Development Project in Capiz.

He refused to reveal more details so as not to give chance for the smugglers to set counterattacks.

“(The plan) will be visible in action, instead of talking about it here. Instead of giving a heads up to our enemies about the new plan, (we will hold it). They might formulate a plan that counterfeits the plan even before it’s released,” Aquino said.

Rampant smuggling

Rampant and widespread smuggling hurts the government’s anti-corruption campaign and dents the country’s economic growth.

Former Finance Secretary Roberto de Ocampo said in a forum last February that the Philippines is losing some $20 billion (about P800 billion) annually due to smuggling. This huge amount, according to him, pierces a big hole in the government’s drive for better fiscal situation.

Agricultural products are among the smuggled products, according to partylist group Abono, which computed that illegally imported agricultural items reach about P32 billion. The group blamed Customs commissioner Ruffy Biazon for the incompetence of the agency to address this problem and even clamored for his resignation.

“Biazon is single-handedly making the country the smuggling capital of Asia. He should resign if he has any shame left,” Abono partylist group chairman Rosendo So said.

Smuggling of oil products has also been rampant with one in every 3 liters of gasoline or diesel in the country is smuggled, noted Ramon Ang, the CEO of Petron Corp., the country’s biggest oil refiner and retailer. Ang added that the country loses P30 billion to P40 billion every year due to oil smuggling.

Despite these allegations, President Aquino reassured the public that the government remains committed in improving the services of the highly-scrutinized Bureau of Customs (BOC) by enhancing its anti-smuggling efforts.

Part of the plan is the port accreditation system, announced by the Department of Finance on Tuesday, April 2, to curb oil smuggling.

The port accreditation system would only designate selected ports for importation of sensitive commodities, such a oil.

The accreditation program will obligate ports to meet standards and technical requirements as well as submitting monthly reports to finance department. – Rappler.com