Barbers lauds Customs plan to hike revenues

Sen. Robert Barbers lauded Customs Commissioner Antonio M. Bernardo yesterday for his programs to raise more revenues by disposing of all overstaying cargoes and liquidating all due and demandable warehousing bonds, as advocated in his recent privilege speech exposing certain cases of malpractices at the Bureau of Customs.

The Mindanao solon cited Bernardo for his audacity to do what is right regardless of whether his action is popular or not, as he noted that Customs collectors and personnel who were involved in rice smuggling and other anomalies had been placed on the carpet and slapped with criminal and administrative cases.

"For as long as Commissioner Bernardo does the right thing, I will continue to support his efforts and I will continue to urge the President to give him more time to improve revenue collection as he has already laid down all the necessary measures to improve the Customs Bureau," Barbers stated.

Customs observers urged Bernardo to adopt Barbers’ suggestion to restore the liquidation of entries in all Philippine Economic Zones (PEZs). Barbers earlier pointed out that the Customs Bureau must treat the PEZs and other Special Economic Zones like Subic and Clark as ordinary Customs bonded warehouses, particularly in requiring them to liquidate their entries as provided under the Tariff and Customs Code.

If this will require the harmonization of the Philippine Export Zone Authority (PEZA) Charter with the Tariff and Customs Code by way of an amendment, Barbers said he will file the necessary bill in the Senate and push for its passage.

Under the present Customs-PEZA relationship, it is PEZA that does the examination and liquidation of entries for their own purposes. Since there is no definite period of time within which the conditional tax and duty free raw materials are turned to finished products, there is therefore no liquidation that can be done by Customs.