BOC shuffles intelligence personnel

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bocBigLogoThe Bureau of Customs (BOC) has reassigned 142 rank-and-file employees and officials of the Intelligence Group (IG) – more than 80% of the total personnel of that unit — and transferred three ranking officials as part of the agency’s reform program.

The movement of 142 officials is embodied under Customs Personnel Order (CPO) No. B-42-2014.

CPO No. B-40-2014, on the other hand, detailed Rolando Sacramento, chief of the Intelligence Division of Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service (CIIS); Limay district collector Elvira Cruz; and Customs intelligence officer Jimmy Guban to the Customs Policy Research Office (CPRO) under the Department of Finance, mother agency of the BOC.

Both CPOs, signed on May 26 by Customs Commissioner John Phillip Sevilla and approved by Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima, took effect immediately.

The CPRO is the BOC think tank but largely regarded as an agency where employees go on a floating status.

The massive rotation of IG personnel in the 17 major collection districts and different divisions of the CIIS is in line with Deputy Commissioner Jessie Dellosa’s directive to reinvigorate all CIIS units. The revamp had been under study as early as January.

Dellosa noted that the rotation was necessary because many of the personnel have been in their positions for many years.

It is common knowledge in the customs community that the incidence of corruption is higher among BOC personnel who have held positions for a long time.

“Unavoidably, many of the IG personnel will be dislodged from their comfort zones,” BOC Public Information and Assistance Division acting chief Charo Logarta-Lagamon said in a statement.

“But in order for the IG to be responsive and relevant in this period of renewal, the group’s leadership recognizes the need for their personnel to develop greater situational awareness in the different Collection Districts.”

She added, “They need to be exposed to the different operational environments and the other aspects of customs operations in order to initiate actions to support the other groups of the bureau, as well as the district collectors.”

Lagamon said the personnel rotation initiative is not a stand-alone program as IG has given equal importance to other interventions that impact the overall intent of strengthening the BOC frontlines.

She said these include continuing training and tradecraft skills upgrade to develop capabilities and competence; rejuvenation of the bureau’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.

Other initiatives include reviewing policies and procedures to promote interoperability among the different offices of the bureau and the collection districts to optimize the limited human and operational resources, and reduce overlaps.

“Moreover, with the porous borders and blind spots where pure or outright smuggling activities may occur, the IG has been liaising with other law enforcement agencies to harness their support for Customs operations,” Lagamon said.

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 these shipments were found to have been misdeclared, had weight or volume discrepancies, or were found to be liable for additional duties and taxes.

These efforts have resulted in bigger amounts of seizures of prohibited and restricted imports with over P5.7-billion in counterfeit goods seized from January to March 2014. — Roumina M. Pablo

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