BOC needs 6,000 additional personnel

MANILA, Philippines - The Bureau of Customs (BOC) needs around 6,000 additional personnel.

BOC Commissioner Rufino Biazon yesterday said the BOC’s 3,200 officials and employees are not enough to run the agency.

He said among the units that are in need of personnel are the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) and the X-Ray Inspection Project (XIP).

It was discovered during the recent implementation of the “return to mother unit” order that the BOC-XIP does not have its own plantilla and had only sourced its personnel from the Enforcement Group.

“If we could put in place plantilla positions then at least there would be permanency of people. Since X-ray is a highly technical unit it would be better if we have specialized people in that office,” Biazon said.

“At NAIA alone, we lack personnel and that is why our people currently assigned there are forced to work overtime even if there is a policy on shifting. There are not enough people,” he added.

He said the BOC team at the Clark International Airport in Pampanga would also need additional personnel in view of the growing number of international flights.

Biazon said there are other airports that suffer from “severe lack of personnel.”

He said the BOC should also intensify its capability on enforcement and intelligence gathering.

He said he is hoping that newly appointed BOC deputy commissioner for internal administration group Myrna Chua, who was formerly with the Department of Budget and Management, would be able to convince the DBM to include an additional budget to hire new employees.

Prove your worth

Meanwhile, Biazon called on the 14 BOC district collectors who objected to their transfer to the Customs Policy Research Office (CPRO) to meet their collection targets and improve the enforcement in their port districts if they want to stay in their post.

The 14 district collectors were granted a 17-day temporary restraining order (TRO) extension by a Manila court.

“While they are there, my expectation is that they would perform to the best of their ability while the TRO is in effect. They should definitely show that they are port collectors. They should show 1,000 percent performance,” he said.

“Who knows, maybe after the 17-day period, they would be able to change the mind of the leadership and the leadership would say that the district collectors were doing okay and they would no longer be transferred,” he added.

Biazon said the TRO neither hampered the operations at the bureau nor caused a rift among the bureau officials. – With Zinnia dela Peña