In compliance with the directive of Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, Commissioner Isidro Lapeña of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) has issued a memorandum to all district directors of the agency to coordinate with the regional offices of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) in forming Joint Anti-Smuggling Units in their respective areas.

Lapeña said these regional anti-smuggling units will go after “erring importers, brokers and BOC personnel” in customs districts outside Metro Manila..

“In line with the instruction of the secretary to strengthen anti-smuggling efforts and establish anti-smuggling units in the provinces or regions, I issued a memorandum directing all these district collectors to coordinate with BIR regional directors for the establishment of Joint Anti-Smuggling Units,” Lapeña said in his report during a recent Department of Finance (DOF) Executive Committee (Execom) meeting.

Lapeña’s directive was in swift response to Dominguez’s earlier order for the BOC to spearhead the creation of joint regional task forces with the BIR to unify and beef up anti-smuggling operations in the provinces.

Dominguez said he wants the BOC and BIR to strengthen their cooperation at the regional level against anti-smuggling activities, considering that most of the illicitly traded goods entering the country are being sold outside Metro Manila.

The finance chief has also directed Lapeña and BIR Commissioner Caesar Dulay to focus on rice, fuel, steel, cigarettes and other food and agricultural product such as chicken, onions and garlic in intensifying the government’s efforts to combat smuggling.

On top of creating BOC-BIR anti-smuggling units, Lapeña reported to Dominguez that the bureau had also recently intercepted P25 million-worth of smuggled goods from several shipments loaded with agricultural products, liquor, auto and aircraft parts and other merchandise and seized 18 luxury vehicles collectively worth P103 million but were grossly undervalued at only P32 million, both at the Manila International Container Port (MICP).

On curbing corruption at the BOC, Lapeña reported that he has instituted measures to help eliminate opportunities for illegal practices, among them, the one assessment/no sectioning policy to eliminate the “palakasan” and “suki” system and avoid delays in the processing of shipments. This measure does away with the previous practice of dividing the bureaus Assessment Division into 15 sections per commodity, he said.

Lapeña is also implementing the “anti-fixer” campaign at the BOC’s Accounts Management Office.

Under his one-strike policy, Lapeña has already relieved or reassigned 116 customs personnel including 10 district collectors.

As a result of these efforts, Lapeña said the BOC’s October 2017 collection of P42 billion has emerged as the highest in the bureau’s history with the Ports of Manila, Batangas and the MICP also reaching its highest collection rates during this period. He said the September 2017 collection of P40.26 billion is also higher than the BOC’s monthly average collection of P35 billion.

The BOC’s October 2017 collection is higher by 26.4 percent from last year’s collection of P33.22 billion for the same period.

A few weeks after assuming office, Lapeña unveiled his five-point program for the BOC, which include eliminating the “tara” system, increasing revenue collections, and strengthening the government’s anti-smuggling efforts while improving the incentives and rewards systems for employees.

Lapeña said that topping his priority list is the weeding out of corruption at the BOC, which he plans to do by implementing the “no tara, no gift and no-take” policy at the bureau.

BOC officials and employees will also be subjected to lifestyle checks, Lapeña said.

His five-point program, Lapeña said, involves the following: 1) stopping corruption, 2) increasing revenues, 3) ensuring trade facilitation 4) strengthening anti-smuggling efforts, and 5) enhancing the personnel incentives, rewards system and compensation benefits for BOC personnel.

To increase revenue collections, Lapeña said he will, among others, speed up the collection and forfeiture of outstanding and demandable bonds, order the collection of additional duties, taxes or penalties from post audit, immediately auction off forfeited shipments and overstaying containers, and implement the one-strike policy against officials who fail to reach their monthly collection targets due to incorrect or undervaluation of goods under their jurisdiction.