BOC reorganization plan to prompt office, operations shakeup

0
1085
Bureau of Customs

Bureau of CustomsThe Bureau of Customs (BOC) is proposing a restructuring of its organization to streamline functions of its offices.

The proposal is pending review at the Department of Budget and Management, BOC assistant commissioner and spokesperson Atty. Vincent Philip Maronilla said in a presentation to media on January 10.

Maronilla said the restructuring is “going to significantly streamline a lot of our offices’ functions.”

He added that part of the proposed restructuring would see the merging of offices with overlapping functions, the renaming of offices, and the creation of separate offices that will handle exclusive functions.

He said revenue collection and assessment would be merged into one group while operations would become a separate unit.

Also proposed is the separation of the legal group from the Revenue Collection and Monitoring Group, as the latter already has a lot of functions, Maronilla said.

BOC would also be creating an office for trade facilitation.

Another proposal is the creation of a Customs Border Police Force to deal exclusively with border protection. Maronilla said BOC’s Enforcement and Security Service currently handles both border protection and internal security, and the proposal is to form a separate unit dedicated to border protection. BOC intends to deploy a 1,000-strong border police force nationwide.

Maronilla said the restructuring would mean some offices would require fewer officers, and others more.

There are currently seven groups in BOC’s organizational structure, namely, Internal Administration Group, Revenue Collection Monitoring Group, Assessment and Operations Coordination Group, Intelligence Group, Enforcement Group, Management Information System and Technology Group, and Post Clearance Audit Group. Under these groups are the various offices performing BOC’s mandate and functions.

The bureau also has 17 collection districts, which also have their own offices. – Roumina Pablo