Bomb threats hounding BOC

Bomb threats continue to wreck havoc on the operations of the Bureau of Customs (BOC), including the processing of import documents for the early release of shipments from the piers.

Customs personnel were again advised yesterday to leave the main Customs building at the Port of Manila as the office of Customs Commissioner Antonio Bernardo received two more bomb threats from unidentified callers.

This was the third time in a period of one week that the staff of the office of the commissioner received warnings from unidentified callers that a bomb was set to explode.

The first bomb threat was made Monday last week followed by another threat on Wednesday.

Customs police, led by Maj. Isabelo Tibayan, said they believe the bomb threats were the work of pranksters. However, they have not taken them lightly, tightening up the security at the Customs zones.

Because of the bomb threats, Customs employees have to stop working temporarily on the processing of import documents and leave their respective offices for their security, and return a few hours after bomb squads have declared the areas as safe.

Meanwhile, officials of the bureau expressed concern over the drop in the volume of importation which may affect its revenue collection target for the current year.

They said the continuing high exchange rate between the peso vis-à-vis the US dollar is discouraging importers to import thus the bureau is only relying on the traditional importers such as the multi-nationals and institutional companies for revenues.