The issue where the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), according to reports, recommended the filing of criminal and administrative charges against Bureau of Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero and two other top BOC officials at the Office of the Ombudsman reminds me of a famous line in Plato’s The Republic: “The beginning is the most important part of the work.”
The three top Customs officials are being charged with violation of the anti-graft and corrupt practices act for allegedly conspiring with six consignees for their accreditation with the BOC Account Management Office. The AMO accreditation is the first step of doing business with BOC. However, when NBI operatives verified the addresses in the application for accreditation of the six consignees, they were allegedly found to be non-existent.
The Customs mess brought back some memories of my earlier engagements in anti-smuggling during the administration of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. In one of the president’s meeting with then Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales, then Customs Deputy Commissioner Ray Umali and other Customs officials where I was also present as Federation of Philippine Industries Chairman, Arroyo asked why in the FPI report, it indicated its discovery of non-existing addresses of accredited consignees, like the importers of ceramic tiles, among others, where upon verification of their declared addresses, one place turned out to be a swamp.
In response to the President’s question, Morales and Umali explained that these things happen because some importers/consignees move to a new address after getting their accreditation without notifying the Bureau of Customs. But Arroyo is so smart that she asked the Customs officials if they check and verify the reflected addresses of accredited importers/consignees after their initial transactions with the BOC. The President’s question was, however, met with deafening silence from the Customs officials.
Hearing their discussions, I suggested to the President that in the application for accreditation with the Bureau of Customs, its form must have an explicit statement that, if the consignee moves to a new address, they must notify the Bureau within 15 days from date of transfer to the new address. Failure to report the transfer within the prescribed period of time could be a ground for the accreditation’s cancellation. With that, Arroyo told the Customs officials to adopt my suggestion.
That meeting happened over nine years ago. And with the alleged legal problem now being faced by Commissioner Guerrero and two other Customs officials regarding the accreditation of six consignees with non-existing addresses as indicated in their accreditation form, this could have been avoided if the BOC leadership implemented Arroyo’s order to adopt my suggestion to indicate in the application form the requirement for accredited consignees/importers to report their transfer to a new address within a prescribed period of time, otherwise they face sanctions.
If the President’s order over nine years ago was completely ignored by the BOC, it makes me wonder if this act could be the Customs’ versions of the Bible’s Sin of Commission and Omission.
Dr. Jesus Lim Arranza is the chairman of the Federation of Philippine Industries and Fight Illicit Trade; a broad-based, multisectoral movement intended to protect consumers, safeguard government revenues and shield legitimate industries from the ill effects of smuggling.