BADILLO, Aimie E.

June 2, 2010
ECE/4 Prof. Fagaragan

Corruption at the Bureau of Customs
INTRODUCTION

Bureau of Customs (BOC) is an agency of the Philippine government
that takes charge on the legality of importing and exporting of goods
in the country. Legality, how can we know if every transactions made
are authentic and free of dirty tactics? It was known that in recent
years, the Bureau of Customs is one of the most corrupt agencies in
the government, where illegal things conquer the Filipino citizens and
the country as a whole. No wonder why many of the Filipinos experience
poverty and adversity in life today. Reviews and excerpts from the
internet, and actual field interviews were gathered to aid this
inquiry for the total awareness of every Filipino.

METHODS OF INVESTIGATION

The group congregates articles from the web that ensembles the
main topic and prove some issues regarding corruption in the Bureau of
Customs. These are real stories that happened in the past months which
involve the acts of dishonesty of the bureau and its illegal doings.

Our web research includes the complaint of the local millers
about the entry of the imported flours in the country; the Pilipinas
Shell where Customs fail to resolve tax issues; over rating of taxes
for shell and a blog from a citizen that reports abuse of excessive
pay-off taxes for a small shipment.

Real field interviews are also been considered since this quest
talks about actual issues. With the chance given by Ms. Anabel Vergara
Vidal, a secretary from the Lemuel Garcia Custom Brokerage, questions
running in our minds were answered in a very brave and reliable way.

FINDINGS

After series of investigations, we came up with the following:

Based from an article from the GMA NEWS TV, posted last March 3,
2010, a cluster of Philippine Millers complain about the low-cost
imported flours entry in the country. Report said that a vast of
shipment of flour from Turkey entered the Philippines paying less tax
for duties and charges. It was an issue where BOC could not opt for an
immediate comment or explanation. Instead of paying an average of $300
per ton, the shipment was only charged $96/ton. Because of this
irregularity a total of PHP 20 million is not forwarded to government.
This practice turned out to be smuggling which can deteriorate the
market and the business of the local millers even though it only
comprises only 10 percent of the over-all flour consumption last year.

Another report, which came from GMA News TV, posted February 9,
2010, Pilipinas Shell is in pursuit of proper tax charges from the
BOC. Tax deficiency lapses define the issue involving the double
taxation made by the bureau. BOC wants the fuel company to pay Php 7.3
billion from the excise taxes from the year 2004 to 2009 for importing
catalytic cracked gasoline and the light catalytic cracked gasoline
and could expand to up to Php 43 billion including interests and
penalties. These chemicals are said to be raw materials and the BOC
charged it as finished products. The agency did a lapse of judgment on
the product since raw materials are considered free form these excise
taxes. According to another source that relates to this topic,
published on Sun Star Network online, seizure of the Shell shipments
would create a huge damage on the production of fuel. In a statement
made by Shells equipment engineer, Glenn Pamplona, many would suffer
in case the refinery would be forced shut down. He said that their
jobs are at stake, and even the vast business partners who depend on
the firms operation.

Based from a blog, made by a man who ordered items abroad termed
the people in the Bureau of Customs as alligators. This is because he
was charged additional shipping fees by the BOC. He reiterated that
there are thousands of reviews in the internet reporting that whenever
they order items online, they got snaked by the BOC.

According to an interview with Ms. Anabel Vidal, secretary of
the Lemuel Garcia Custom Brokerage, firm located at Pacific Regency
Condominium Malate Manila, there are lots of corruptions happening in
the field of customs. She mentioned three ways: first, perjury for
instant processing of legal shipment documents. The broker signs the
papers with the connivance from a BOC officer to avoid delay and to
compromise with the client. The papers should be signed by an officer
for legality and authentication. Second, double charges. Additional
fees and taxes were added to the invoice of the client which is
manipulated by the broker. Lastly, is when the employees get into the
scene. Employees abuse the client by adding fees that are not really
included in the service which serves as their kick-backs. She said
that the peak of their operation starts from August to December, where
importing and exporting is in demand. Facing reality, she pointed out
that the reasons why there are corruptions are being self-centered,
greediness and poverty.

CONCLUSIONS

Corruptions at the Bureau of Customs are very obvious since there
are proofs regarding these issues. These illegal transactions came in
a very large scope, in different instances and situations. After all,
someone would benefit and another would suffer. Overpricing, tax
discrepancies up to a small-time act of dishonesty refers to
corruption. These tend a blogger to term the BOC as alligators.
Poverty and self-centeredness would be the prime factors of corruption
as said by a brokerage employee, Anabel Vidal.

RECOMMENDATIONS

To resolve these problems, proper monitoring of employees of the
government should be utilized. Every transaction should be in a legal
process. Strict implementation of laws can help. Discipline