Senators chide Customs for failure to curb illegal agri imports

MANILA, Philippines - Senators on Wednesday chastised the Bureau of Customs (BoC) for failing to intercept illegally-imported agricultural products into the country. In a report, dzBB’s Nimfa Arevalo said during a Senate hearing, Senators Francis Escudero and Juan Ponce Enrile criticized the BoC for allowing importers without proper tax identification numbers to bring in onions and other agricultural products to the country. Escudero cited a letter from Finance Sec. Margarito Teves reprimanding Customs commissioner Napoleon Morales in 2006 for letting 28 onion importers not registered with the Bureau of Internal Revenue to import goods into the country. Escudero said that aside from letting illegal importers operate, the BoC's failure to curb these illegal activities are killing local agricultural production. On the other hand, Customs deputy commissioner Alexander Arevalo admitted his agency is unable to thoroughly scrutinize all import transactions because it has not been granted the P5 million it requested for the computerization of its systems. Escudero expressed dismay at Arevalo’s response, saying that while Customs officials could afford to split among themselves P500 million from excess tax collection, they could not allocate P5 million for the computerization program. Last July, "cash rewards" were distributed among Customs officials because the agency collected P198.2 billion in revenues for 2006, exceeding its P196 million target by P2.2 billion. Even as Morales maintained that there is nothing illegal about the cash incentives, he said he is willing to return his P5.2 million incentive to address the grievance posted by 80 Customs personnel who did not reach their target for 2006 and received an average of P8,500 each. - Johanna Camille Sisante, GMANews.TV