Customs employees wear ‘hugot’ shirts to inspire change

MANILA, Philippines – Every Friday, customs officials and personnel of the Port of Manila (POM) wear their hearts on their sleeves – quite literally. With shirts bearing inspirational quotes and statements, employees of the Philippines’ second biggest port aim to embody the behaviors and attitudes their shirts proudly proclaim.

Starting April 21, POM officials and personnel started wearing statement shirts with English and Filipino messages on change and transformation printed on them:

“Progresibong pagbabago sa Aduana, isapuso, isa-isip, at isagawa (Progressive change in Customs, take to heart, mind, and action.)

“Be the Change.”

“Paglingkuran ang sambayanan, katiwalian ay labanan.” (Serve the country, fight corruption.)

“I am transformed!”

It’s an image-building campaign for the POM, but more than just boosting public perception, it also aims to transform the way POM employees think and behave.

“In this way, the transacting public can expect a higher level of expertise from our people,” said lawyer Rhea Gregorio, POM district collector.

“The mindset of all involved in the transactions, whether they are from BOC or stakeholders, should be consistently [about] taking steps towards the right direction,” she added.

The POM said ongoing reforms in the BOC have helped it achieve higher collections, collecting P5.781 billion – P30 million more than its P5.751-billion revenue target in March. Gregorio said she is optimistic this trend will continue for the rest of the year.

This is in contrast to last year, when the BOC missed its targets through most of the year, prompting it to announce in September that it was cutting its collection target for 2016  from nearly P500 billion to P409 billion because of the continuous drop in oil prices and imports. – Rappler.com