The Bureau of Customs (BOC) is planning another wave of reshuffle that will focus on underperforming staff, including district collectors who have failed to meet revenue targets, according to Customs Commissioner Alberto Lina.
In an interview with media after the Kapihan sa Manila Bay on September 30, Lina said the agency has submitted an eight-page customs personnel order (CPO) to its mother agency, the Department of Finance (DOF), proposing the reshuffle.
The customs commissioner said the proposal is BOC’s reaction to lawmakers who questioned, during a recent Lower House Ways and Means Committee hearing, the competence of retired police and military generals assigned as district collectors.
If the CPO is approved, Lina said these district collectors would be transferred to BOC’s Intelligence Group (IG) or Enforcement Group, or to the Office of Revenue Agency Modernization (ORAM) at the DOF.
During the same Lower House hearing, Valenzuela representative Magtanggol Gunigundo recommended the removal of 14 district collectors — all retired generals — for alleged underperformance and failing “miserably to accomplish the objective of the ORAM to modernize and improve the revenue of BOC.”
Marikina representative Romero Quimbo, chairman of the Ways and Means committee, pointed out that BOC’s revenue collection from several districts was higher in 2012 than in 2014 under the former generals’ watch.
The retired military and police officers were recommended by BOC deputy commissioner for IG Jessie Dellosa, himself a former chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and detailed to BOC from ORAM as part of the government’s reform program for the customs agency.
The Lower House ways and means committee also suggested that the officials be replaced “by those who know the job better.”
Lina said he hopes to secure DOF’s approval to his reshufle plan within October. The last revamp at the BOC was in July involving key officials and several district collectors.
Meanwhile, around 150 newly hired personnel are now working at the BOC, most of whom are licensed customs brokers, according to deputy commissioner for Assessment and Operations Atty. Agaton Teodoro Uvero. He added that more staff will be coming on board soon.
BOC began hiring people to fill over 1,000 plantilla positions last year in a move to beef up the workforce and improve productivity. – Text and photo by Roumina Pablo
