The full implementation of reforms designed to plug the operational loopholes at the Bureau of Customs (BOC) is expected to ease the burden caused by the dumping of illegally imported poultry and meat products into the local market on the country’s poultry and hog raisers.

In assuring the local poultry and hog raisers of the Bureau’s efforts to curb the smuggling of poultry and meat products, Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon said, the full implementation of his recommended Bureau reforms which is awaiting approval by the Department of Finance (DOF) will dramatically reduce, if not totally eliminate, the incidents of meat and poultry products smuggling in the country.

“I saw this problem even only in my early weeks in office. And this is one of the reasons why the Bureau has intensified its monitoring of food products, particularly frozen or chilled poultry and meat products entering the country,” Biazon said, adding that, “However, our enhanced monitoring of food shipments alone is not enough. We need to undertake both, structural and organizational reforms in the BOC to finally put an end to this menace that affects the lives of local hog and poultry raisers,” he stressed.

Biazon’s reform agenda for the Bureau of Customs include the re-alignment of some of its units to maximize efficiency and eliminate redundancy.  Already, the Bureau’s Interim Customs Accreditation and Registration (ICARE) unit has been transferred to the Intelligence Group (IG) under Deputy Commissioner Danilo Lim from the Revenue Collection and Monitoring Group (RCMG).

ICARE is the BOC operating unit that is responsible for the accreditation of all importers and brokers who wish to do business with the Bureau. And in some of the earlier cases filed by the BOC against importers, the respondent companies/traders turned out to be fictitious.

Also part of Biazon’s reform agenda is the re-assignment of key front line BOC officials to maximize their revenue generating potentials. To enable the Bureau to meet its collection target for the year, the Commissioner has recommended some movements in the leadership of the Bureau’s five major ports.

“With the full implementation of these proposed BOC reforms, we expect to see a dramatic improvement in the Bureau’s campaign to curb smuggling, especially in the illegal importation of food products,” Biazon bared.

“However, we appeal to the private sector particularly the country’s various hog and poultry raisers associations, to help us in our efforts to stop the illegal importation of food products, by working with us on this campaign. We are always ready to welcome you, in whatever way you can, to help us eradicate smuggling,” the Commissioner added.

Biazon’s assurance to the country’s hog and poultry raisers comes in light of the groups’ open letter to President Benigno Aquino III regarding the alleged flooding of imported meat and poultry products in the local market which came out of the March 23, 2012 issue of the Manila Bulletin. The local poultry and hog raisers, in their letter said, the flooding of both, legally imported and of smuggled pork and chicken in the local market have caused the drop of the gate prices of their products.

Food importation is also regulated by the Department of Agriculture. To protect the interest of local farmers, the issuance of import permits by the DA for all food importation, including poultry and meat products are required prior to importation.