Turning Point
By ROBERTO T. DOMONDON

"Professionals are committed to a life of service to others. They protect life, pro-perty and public welfare. To serve others, they shall be prepared for heroic sacrifice and genuine self-lessness in carrying out their professional duties even at the expense of personal gain."1

Introduction

Republic Act 1937, the first codification of the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines (TCCP) as a republic, which was passed in 1957 gave birth to the customs broker profession. Unfortunately, the said law gave the profession a dual personality, perhaps by reason of the prevailing situation when the law was passed. Thus the profession has the personality of a profession and the personality of a business. As a profession, a person has to pass a government examination given for the purpose. On the other hand, following provisions of the law gave the profession the personality of a business:

a) Corporations were allowed to engage in the practice of the profession under second paragraph of Section 3401, TCCP which states that "no corporation, association or partnership shall engage in the customs brokerage business unless two of the officers of such corporation or association or at least two of the members of such partnership have such (customs broker) certificate"; and

b) The practice of the profession in individual capacity was considered a business under first paragraph of Section 3406 which states that "any person who is a holder of a customs broker's certificate desiring to establish a customs brokerage business at any port in the Philippines shall apply for an annual license…" (underscoring supplied)

The TCCP likewise failed to define the scope of the practice of the profession such that by inference the customs broker profession was presumed to be a profession purely devoted to transacting with the Bureau of Customs on matters involving import and export.

RA 9280 as the turning point

For almost 50 years from the passage of RA 1937, the customs broker profession has existed as a profession much maligned, looked down and worse viewed more of a business rather than a profession.

RA 9280 signed into law last 30 March 2004 finally led to the rebirth to the customs broker profession, making it a "pure profession".

Rightful place of the customs broker profession in the league of the learned profession
What do we mean when we speak of the learned professions? Ordinarily, we think we are referring to certain callings of a traditionally dignified character. We think of law, medicine, the ministry and teaching. The concept of learned professionals developed during the Middle Ages. It came with the rise of the universities. They had a faculty of arts and faculty of theology, law and medicine.Teachers, church officials, lawyers and physicians received prolonged formal training and after they had completed the training they constituted a class apart.

Since that time, there has been a consistent viewpoint that training is necessary to admission to a learned profession, and that professions are based on an intellectual technique. Sometimes this training is prescribed by the state2. The state licenses the admission to the particular learned professions…3 State licensing has come about gradually through standards set up by professional organizations.

This suggests a second attribute of the learned professions: organization4. In the beginning, these organizations or associations were like guilds. Now they have a broader function. Lawyers and doctors, and to some extent teachers, have through their associations set up code of ethics - codes that are taught by precept and by example and made effective by the discipline of an organized profession. To some extent these associations have engaged in protective activities. But this should be a secondary objective. The organizations exist primarily for the advancement of medicine, justice or teaching (and proper collection of duties and taxes) not of the individual members, as in the case of trade unions.

The third attribute of a learned profession is that its members are dedicated to a spirit of public service5. Gaining livelihood is incidental6.

Code of Ethics distinguishes a learned profession from business

In the same book of Justice Jorge R. Coquia on page 38, excerpts from MacEver, The Social Significance of Professional Ethics, is quoted hereunder:

"There is in this respect a marked contrast between the world of business and that of professions. It cannot be said that business has yet attained a specific code of ethics, resting on considerations broader than the sense of self interest and supplementing the minimal requirements of the law. Such a code may be in the making, but it has not yet established itself, and there are formidable difficulties to be overcome7. When we speak of business ethics, we generally mean the principles of fair play and honorable dealing which men should observe in business. Sharp dealing, "unfair" competition, the exaction of the pound of flesh, may be reprobated and by the decent majority condemned, but behind such an attitude there is no definite code which businessmen reinforce by their collective sense of its necessity and by their deliberate adoption of it as expressly binding upon themselves. There is no general brotherhood of businessmen from which the offender against these sentiments, who does not at the same time overly offend against the law of the land, is extruded as unworthy of an honorable calling. There is no effective criticism which sets up a broader standard of judgment than mere success."

"…We might apply here the significant and much misunderstood comparison which Rousseau drew between the "will of all", and the "general will". In business we have as yet only the "will of all", the activity of businessmen, each in pursuit of his own success, not overridden though doubtless tempered by the "general will", the society which seeks first the common interest. The latter can be realized only when the ideal of service controls the ideal of profits. We do not mean that businessmen are in fact selfish while the professional men are altruistic. We mean simply that the ideal of the unity of service which business renders is not yet explicitly recognized and proclaimed by itself. It is otherwise with the professions. They assume an obligation and an oath of service. "A profession", says the ethical code of the American Medical Association, "has for its prime object the service it can render to humanity, reward or financial gain should be a subordinate consi-deration," and again it proclaims that the principles laid down for the guidance of the profession "are primarily for the good of the public."

1 Specific Principles of Professional Conduct-Code of Good Govern-ance for the Professions in the Philippines.

2 The curriculum for BS Customs Administration is prescribed by the Commission on Higher Education.

3 A qualified applicant must pass the Licensure Examination for Customs Broker, registered by the PRC and issued the Customs Broker ID before he can practice the Customs Broker profession.

4 RA 9280 provides for the accreditation of a professional organization.

5 Customs brokers are quasi-Bureau of Customs officials. Their main responsibility is to ensure that the correct duties and taxes are paid by their clients.

6 Wade, Public Responsibilities of the Learned Profession 21 Louisiana Law review 130, 1960 as reprinted in Legal Profession by Jorge R. Coquia, Rex Book Store, 1993, 30-31.

7 There is now a conscious effort by businessmen to give real meaning to the phrase "corporate governance".

This article first appeared on the souvenir program of the Chamber of Customs Brokers, Inc.'s recent annual general membership meeting at the Manila Hotel.The writer is both a lawyer and a customs broker.