Not wanting to have another missing containers controversy in their once glorious Port of Batangas , the Chamber of Customs Brokers, Inc. (CCBI) Batangas Chapter virtually threw in their support for the Bureau of Customs (BOC) anti-smuggling campaign during the organization’s first convention at the Lyceum of the Philippines in Batangas City recently.

The convention, which had for its guest speaker and inducting officer Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon, was also attended by CCBI President Girlie Perez and Professional Regulatory Board for Customs Brokers (PRBCB) Chairman Ferdinand Nague among other officials of the CCBI Batangas Chapter and industry stakeholders.

In his speech, Biazon reminded the customs brokers of Batangas of their role as facilitators of industry reforms in their home port saying that, “While failure, such as what happened in the missing containers controversy in the Port of Batangas, was a big setback for the BOC in particular, and the industry in general, we can however, make success out of it, if we learn from it.”

Prior to Biazon’s appointment as Customs Chief, the Port of Batangas, as the Port of Discharge of over 2,000 containers got embroiled in a controversy that practically raised a national outrage as only over 300 of these container vans reached the Port of Batangas, the rest vanished like smoke.

Biazon, in urging the members of the CCBI, Batangas chapter to help in the government’s anti-smuggling drive asked them to be even more vigilant in their day-to-day transactions at the port, saying that the BOC would always be ready to help them with their needs, especially on matters concerning violators of the Tariffs and Customs Code of the Philippines (TCCP)

“The basic elements for reforms in the industry are already in place. We have started the customs re-alignment of resources, we have operationalized the Philippine National Single Window (NSW) and we have fully computerized the Bureau’s transaction. But while all these help plug the loopholes at the BOC, the CCBI’s assistance in policing its ranks, however, could even be a bigger boost for the BOC’s anti-smuggling campaign,” Biazon stressed.

For her part CCBI President Girlie Perez said their organization’s commitment to help in the government’s drive against smuggling saying that they can feel the commitment in the BOC’s present leadership for reforms. “We know that the BOC reforms now being undertaken will get us somewhere, and we would like to do our share, at least in policing our ranks in the CCBI,” Perez pointed out.

The BOC, PRBCB and the CCBI recently signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for a joint anti-smuggling undertaking, especially those affecting the licenced customs brokers.