MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte has revived the post-clearance audit function of the Bureau of Customs, which was embroiled in a controversy recently because of the entry of multi-billion peso worth of illegal drugs.
Duterte returned the function to the BoC through Executive Order No. 46 signed last October 20.
The Post Entry Audit Group of the BoC was formed in 2003 through EO No. 160. The group was under the direct supervision of the Customs commissioner and was tasked to audit goods that have secured clearance.
The functions of the PEAG was transferred to the Finance department's Fiscal Intelligence Unit in 2013.
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Duterte revived the BoC's post-clearance audit function and renamed the PEAG to Post Clearance Audit Group. The group will be under the supervision of the Customs commissioner and will be headed by an assistant commissioner.
The BoC was placed in hot water two months ago after it was discovered that P6.4 billion worth of shabu from China was able to enter the country.
Former Customs chief Nicanor Faeldon and other customs officials resigned during the height of the controversy but maintained that they have nothing to do with the alleged corruption in the bureau.
The assistant commissioner supervising PCAG will manage the Trade Information and Risk Analysis Office and Compliance Assessment Office. Each office will be headed by a Customs official with a Director II rank.
The PCAG is mandated to conduct, within three years from the date of final payment of duties and taxes or customs clearance, an audit examination, inspection, verification and investigation of records pertaining to any goods declaration.
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The records will be audited to ascertain the correctness of the goods declaration and determine the liability of the importer for duties, taxes, and other charges including any fine or penalty.
The TIRAO will set benchmarks to develop an audit program, develop a computer-aided risk basked management system to profile and identify potential priority audit candidates, develop guidelines and standard operating procedures relating to the audit process.
The CAO, meanwhile, will prepare an audit work plan, conduct audit examination, inspection, verification or investigation of records, prepare and submit reports on audit findings and establish and maintain a compliance program.
Duterte also renamed the FIU as Financial Analytics and Intelligence Unit and mandated it to recommend policies to the Finance department based on the analysis of available data.
The funding requirements for the PCAG will come from the budget of the BoC.