New BOC appointees must raise revenues – Palace

MANILA, Philippines - The designation by President Aquino of five new officials in the graft-ridden Bureau of Customs (BOC) should pave the way for higher revenue collections as the agency undergoes a revamp, a Palace official said yesterday.

“I think the best measure of whether this (new appointments) is successful is when complaints on rampant corruption decrease and if they can augment by a significant amount the agency’s collection target,” said Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office Secretary Ricky Carandang.

Carandang urged the public as well to give the new appointees more time to implement the reforms that have already been instituted.

“Let’s give them more time to carry out these needed reforms. So let’s watch, let’s wait and see what will happen in the next few months, or if these reforms will lead to an increase in revenue collections,” Carandang added.

If only Customs officials would do their job well, he said an estimated P200 billion a year could be easily achieved in revenue collections – that is if the old practice in handling operations in Customs is done away with.

“So let’s see what the results will be in the next few months,” he said.

Biazon’s men out, Purisima’s men in

Aquino has designated retired Armed Forces chief Gen. Jessie Dellosa as BOC deputy commissioner for enforcement (replacing Horacio Suansing Jr.) and at the same time officer-in-charge of intelligence division (replacing Danny Lim).

Dellosa, a native of Tarlac, served as a member of the Presidential Security Group of the late President Corazon Aquino. Incumbent President Aquino appointed Dellosa as AFP chief in 2011.

The other appointees Trinidad Rodriguez, Myrna Chua, Primo Aguas and Agaton Teodoro Uvero were all endorsed by Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima, who exercises supervision over the BOC.

Rodriguez is former executive director of the National Tax Research Center, under the Department of Finance (DOF), while Chua is former director of the Department of Budget and Management.