The Bureau of Customs (BOC) now requires a hard copy of the sea manifest to be submitted to its Piers and Inspection Division (PID).
The requirement is contained in Customs Memorandum Order (CMO) No. 06-2016 dated March 15 and issued by Customs Commissioner Alberto Lina. The CMO amends Sub-section 4.3.1 of Section 4.3 (Submission of Hard Copies) of CMO 19-2015 (Revised Procedures for the Mandatory Submission of Electronic Sea Manifest in the E2M).
PID had received hard copies of the sea manifest prior to the issuance of CMO 19-2015. But under CMO 19-2015, signed on July 1, 2015, the division was taken off the list of those that received a hard copy, and replaced by the Enforcement Group.
Lina said CMO 06-2016 was signed to “address operational concerns of the ports.”
Under the new order, four sets of cargo manifest need to be submitted and distributed to the Intelligence Group (IG); PID; Assessment and Operations Coordinating Group; and the resident Commission on Audit auditor.
“The purpose of the manifest is to furnish the customs inspector on board with a list to check against, to inform the district collector what goods are being brought into the country on board, and to provide safeguard against articles smuggled ashore, such as but not limited to weapons of mass destruction, prohibited articles,” PID-Port of Manila officer-in-charge Atty. Joseph Romano told PortCalls in a text message.
With the division’s exclusion from receipt of a manifest copy under CMO 19-2015, Romano said his office has “not (been) capable of determining if there is discrepancy between the declared cargo and the actual cargo (that) arrived without the manifest.”
He added that under Executive Order No. 127 (Reorganizing the Bureau of Customs), Sections 1004-1008 of the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines, and the Revised Port Operations Manual, “PID is mandated to ensure only cargoes destined for Philippines shall be discharged from the carrying vessel.”
“It is really absurd to deprive our Office with a copy of the manifest,” Romano pointed out.
“Aside from being the repository of the manifest, the PID is the first and last line of defense of the bureau.”
The change in rules will “greatly help us in the discharge of our functions,” he added. – Roumina Pablo
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