Private auditors take first look at Customs operations

MANILA, Philippines - Starting this year, operations by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) will be audited first by a non-government entity before being evaluated by state auditors.

The bureau was effectively added on the list of entities participating on the Citizen Participatory Audit (CPA) program by the Commission on Audit (COA) yesterday after signing an agreement with the agency and the Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA).

In a joint statement, the agencies said the program would allow PICPA to evaluate the revenue assessment systems of the BOC before going through the routine COA processes.

Customs is the second main government revenue agency traditionally accounting for a fifth of government revenues.

Specific areas to be evaluated will be determined through a “planning phase” among the agencies, results of which will be written in the terms to be crafted by COA.

“The Citizen Participatory Audit program aims to enhance the transparency in government operations as well as public accountability through COA’s collaboration with citizen groups…,” COA Chairperson Michael Aguinaldo was quoted as saying.

In a survey by Social Weather Stations (SWS) that concluded in May, the BOC was named as the most corrupt agency after garnering a “very bad” -55 net rating on sincerity to fight corruption.

The score, nonetheless, was still an improvement from the similarly “very bad” – 63 net rating the previous year. The SWS polled a total of 966 companies.

The CPA program, launched in 2014, allow civil society groups, non-government organizations and other public stakeholders to examine state agency operations guided by COA-mandated procedures.

In January, COA said it is now ready to pursue phase two of the project after completing the first one which covered specific public undertakings such as the flood control project of the Department of Public Works and Highways and the Solid Waste Management Program of Quezon City.

“We will provide all official records and documents, as well as data necessary to ensure the audit objectives, including facilities all parties will be needing,” Customs Commissioner Alberto Lina said.