Friday, November 21, 2008
Recall at BOC triggers revamp
THE recall of all legal officers of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) to their mother unit in Manila has triggered a revamp of 29 customs officials and personnel including those from the Port of Cebu.
As a result, lawyer Paul Alcazaren was designated as deputy collector for operations of the Port of Cebu in concurrent capacity as chief of the Customs Bonded Warehouse Division (CBWD).
Alcazaren, who has served the bureau in various capacity for decades already, will replace lawyer Julito L. Doria who is reassigned to the Office of the Legal Service Director in Manila.
Lawyer Edward James Dy Buco, chief of the Port of Cebu legal division is also reassigned to the Office of the Legal Service Director in Manila, and will be replaced by lawyer Giselo C. Galido, in concurrent capacity as chief of the Port of Cebu bonds division.
Some Port of Cebu officials said that the bonds division needs a separate chief because of the reported rampant anomalies, especially in the processing of export and import bonds.
One of the complaints by some insurance agents is that if one won’t “pay P1,000 for every P1 million insurance coverage, processing of bonds would be slow.”
Reprisal
An insurance agent, who requested not to be named for fear of reprisal, said that if a shipment is insured by P10 million, the unscrupulous personnel at the bonds division would get P10,000, otherwise the processing would be slow or there would be no processing at all.
The others, who are reassigned to the Office of the Legal Service Director, came from various customs ports of the country including Port of Manila, Manila International Container Port, Port of Mariviles, Port of Iloilo, Port of Subic, and Port of Limay (Bataan), among others.
District Collector Ricardo Belmonte said that the revamp order dated Nov. 17 and signed by Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales will be fully implemented next week.
Abolition
Earlier, Rep. Benhur Salimbangon (Cebu Province, 4th district) said that he will call for the abolition of some law enforcement units at the Bureau of Customs once the House deliberates on the bills filed by Rep. Pablo John Garcia (Cebu Province, 3rd district) and Rep. Antonio Cuenco (Cebu City, south).
Salimbangon said that once Congress will start discussing the bills to amend the Tariff and Customs Code, he will propose the abolition of the Intelligence and Enforcement Group, Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service (CIIS) and other law enforcement units that duplicate CIIS-Cebu and the Enforcement and Security Service. (EOB)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (November 21, 2008 issue)
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