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President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. wants reform in the bureaucracy to curb smuggling, lower logistics costs and ensure ease of doing business
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Old systems not working, he said
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Data sharing between Bureau of Customs and Department of Agriculture pushed
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. wants reform in the bureaucracy to curb smuggling, lower logistics costs and ensure ease of doing business.
According to a statement issued by the Presidential Communications Office, Marcos in a meeting with the Private Sector Advisory Council (PSAC) in Malacañang, said: “To be brutally frank about it, we have a system but they are not working. The smuggling here in this country is absolutely rampant. So it does not matter to me how many systems we have in place, they do not work.”
The President added: “So we really have to find something else. We cannot continue to depend on these systems which have already proven themselves to be quite ineffective.”
According to the PSAC, among those in attendance were the council’s head, Aboitiz Group chief executive officer Sabin Aboitiz; Bank of the Philippine Islands chief operating officer Ramon Jocson; Globe president and chief executive officer Ernest Cu; PLDT president and CEO Al Panlilio; and Union Bank of the Philippines chief technology and operations officer Henry Aguda.
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan, Information and Communications Technology Undersecretary David Almirol, and other government officials also attended the meeting.
Marcos noted the government cannot continue to sweep the issue of smuggling under the rug due to its substantial cost to the state and private businesses.
Marcos said issues on the ease of doing business and the inefficiency of the country’s airports and seaports are the major complaints he receives from the business sector.
Concerned agencies have to be more innovative, Marcos said, stressing government has to delineate functions or establish new agencies if necessary to be effective.
One of the recommendations put forward was the sharing of database between the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and the Department of Agriculture (DA).
It must be noted that DA and BOC already have a data-sharing agreement to facilitate exchange of information on traded agricultural commodities, primarily on unfair trade practices and surge of imports.
Signed on January 27, 2022, the DSA is one of the initiatives between DA and BOC that ensures local agri-fishery products will remain competitive with overseas counterparts.
In October 2021, DA and BOC also signed a deal to implement a new set of measures to curtail the entry of smuggled agricultural commodities and guarantee optimum level of food safety.
