Customs, Aurora ecozone sign deal to curb smuggling

AURORA PACIFIC ECONOMIC ZONE, Philippines – The Bureau of Customs has forged a partnership with the Aurora Pacific Economic Zone Authority to legalize the flow of trade and curb the threats of smuggling in the only economic zone this side of the Pacific.

The partnership between the BOC and APECO was sealed following the signing of a memorandum of agreement between Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales and APECO chairman/administrator Vitaliano Sabalo Jr. at Hotel Sofitel in Manila Friday. The signing rites were witnessed by Sen. Edgardo Angara and BOC deputy commissioners Alexander Arevalo and Reynaldo Nicolas. 

Morales said the signing rites will provide the regulatory framework that will legalize the flow of trade and commerce in the ecozone. He said this is also intended to provide safeguards against smuggling of goods at the ecozone. “We’ll work together to prevent it (smuggling). Through mutual help, goods intended for domestic sales subject to filing of imported entry will be monitored,” he said.

Smuggling has been raised as one of the issues that would confront the operations of the ecozone, a brainchild of Angara and his son, House Deputy Majority Leader Juan Edgardo Angara. The father-and-son tandem authored the measure creating the ecozone.

Angara said that smuggling can thrive not only in the ecozone but in other ecozones if law enforcement authorities and the citizenry would allow it. He said that everybody should be vigilant to prevent smugglers and poachers from treading into Aurora’s coastal waters.                

Morales said that the BOC will set up a satellite office at the ecozone, manned initially by three Customs personnel. He said they are working with the management of the ecozone to facilitate trade and to provide offices for immigration and quarantine.

He said that the BOC would implement in the ecozone its IT-connectivity program providing for a “single window” wherein one does not have to go to the Customs office in Manila to file imported entries.

Under the single window concept, he said transactions are made through the internet, thus, facilitating trade and eliminating graft and corruption.

Angara said, with the setting up of infrastructure at the ecozone, he envisions Aurora to be the gateway to the Pacific, unlocking the resource-rich and fertile areas of Northern Luzon.

“Casiguran is a prime location for an economic zone and we want to stimulate the economy, build better lives and provide a more conducive living environment for its people,” he said.