Customs turns 98 sans commissioner

President Estrada will speak before Customs officials and businessmen during the 98th founding anniversary celebration of the Bureau of Customs at the Port of Manila social hall at South Harbor today.

Acting Customs Commissioner Renato Ampil will make a brief report to the President on the bureau's performance last year and its projections this year.

Customs Commissioner Ramon Farolan is in the United States for further medical tests on advice of his doctors following complaints of chest pains over a week ago.

His wife Sylvia said the 65-year-old Farolan will be out of the country "indefinitely, depending on the results of the tests," but that he would be back soon.

Ampil said the bureau is busy collecting revenues and preventing smuggling in the country's various ports, as well as complying with requirements of deregulation and global-free trade market brought about by the country's commitment to the World Trade Organization and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.

Traditionally, the bureau delivers 18 percent of the total national revenue collections, next to the 78 percent of the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

Ampil said the bureau's performance has surpassed that of the Department of Finance's assigned collection target of P2.9 billion this year.

Ampil will welcome the President and his entourage, including Finance Secretary Jose Pardo, to the ceremony. --