Customs collectors get TRO on transfer to DOF

Rappler.com

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The Manila Regional Trial Court suspends the transfer of 27 Bureau of Customs collectors to the Department of Finance's Customs Policy Research Office

NEW ORDER. Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon issues an order transferring several customs collectors to a research office at the Finance department

MANILA, Philippines – The Manila Regional Trial Court has suspended the transfer of 27 Bureau of Customs collectors to the Department of Finance (DOF).

In a 3-page decision penned by presiding judge Marino Dela Cruz Jr., the court granted the petition of the Customs collectors for a 72-hour temporary restraining order on their transfer to the Customs Policy Research Office (CPRO) of the DOF.

Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon issued Customs Personnel Order (CPO) B-189-2013, assigning all collectors 5 and 6 to the CPRO.

“There is extreme urgency in the matter as the assailed CPO was made effective immediately and the petitioners stand to face the enforcement of such CPO which they believe to be violative of their respective statutory and constitutional right to security of tenure,” the Manila court said.

The court added the petitioners may suffer “grave injustice” if the implementation of the CPO pushes through because “they stand to be reassigned to an office whose principal purpose is research and policy formulation, which is totally inconsistent with their position description, which is enforcement of the Tariff and Customs Code.”

The transfer is part of reforms that the newly formalized Revenue Cluster of the DOF is implementing at BOC, which was slammed by President Benigno Aquino III during his State of the Nation Address for rampant corruption.

The Revenue Cluster, headed by Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares, covers the Bureau of Internal Revenue, BOC, and the Bureau of Local Government Finance.

Earlier, the cluster issued CPO B-134-2013, mandating all BOC employees to return to their mother units and effectively revoking their current assignments. The order was signed by Biazon and approved by DOF secretary Cesar Purisima. Citing “massive displacement” and “abandonment of functions,” BOC employees are strongly opposing the order. – Rappler.com

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