THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) vowed to conduct a probe on government officials earlier tagged in a Senate report as allegedly involved in agricultural smuggling.
Newly appointed Customs Commissioner Yogi Filemon Ruiz said the formal investigation will commence once they get the copy of the Senate Committee of the Whole report. The report identified Ruiz’s predecessor, former Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo B. Guerrero, and 21 other government officials as alleged protectors and smugglers of agricultural products. Guerrero strongly denied this.
Officials from the BOC, Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Bureau of Plant and Industry were among those included in the list.
President Ferdinand R. Marcos
Jr. is the concurrent secretary of the DA.
“Once I get a copy of the official report, yes, we will investigate,” Ruiz told reporters in a news conference.
“Di namin to pinapabayaan,” he added. [We’re not neglecting this.] “I promised to the President that we will curb agricultural smuggling.”
Should anyone be found liable for agricultural smuggling, the Customs chief said they could only recommend that the Department of Justice (DOJ) file charges against these officials. “We will leave no guilty person unpunished,” he said. “We will not give them any peace of mind.”
Seizures, cases
RUIZ also said last Wednesday that the bureau has so far recorded 66 instances from January to August 7 this year wherein Customs personnel seized agricultural products estimated to be worth P701.82 million.
Moreover, the bureau filed 25 criminal cases before the DOJ against 71 importers, exporters and customs brokers for the unlawful importation and exportation of agricultural products with a total dutiable value of P186.98 million and total duties and taxes amounting to P76 million.
Ruiz said they plan to meet with DA officials on setting up the country’s first border-inspection facility in Subic. The Customs chief added he is “closely coordinating” with DA officials on the “enhanced” inter-agency data exchange in validating shipments and strengthened derogatory and intelligence information coordination.
Ruiz also met with agricultural stakeholders, including the League of Associations of La Trinidad Vegetables to discuss measures to suppress agricultural smuggling that affects local farmers.
Likewise, he also assured the United Sugar Producers Federation (UNiFED), the bigger sugar bloc in the country, that the BOC would consult with stakeholders to resolve agricultural smuggling.
Internal goal
BEING the second biggest revenue collection agency, the BOC is tasked to collect P721.5 billion this year but Ruiz said he had set a higher internal collection goal of P740 billion.
“We are on track to surpass it [internal target],” he said.
For this month, the Customs chief also expressed confidence that they will exceed their collection goal of P62 billion. As of August 10, the BOC has so far collected P24 billion.
He also said they are hoping to hit another record-high monthly collection this August, even higher than their revenue take in July this year of P84.4 billion.
“We are aspiring for that…We have to understand this is August and for other countries they consider as the ghost month but the way we are going right now, we tend to surpass our monthly target,” he said.