|
APPARENTLY unhappy that he had to give up his original
collection goal of P228 billion and work to generate
only at least P223 billion, Customs chief Napoleon
Morales started a nationwide revamp that takes effect in
two weeks.
Morales,
the career Customs employee who worked his way for 40
years to the agency’s top position, bared the plan on
Wednesday at the Quijano de Manila Symposium, where he
discussed his achievements as well as his failures.
“I am
not happy. But we must have alternative measures, so
that for now, we will implement a reshuffle within two
weeks,” he told the forum, held at the Cherry Blossoms
Hotel in
Manila.
The
Bureau of Customs (BOC) has posted a 10-month shortfall
of P15 billion, sharply down from a year ago when he led
the agency to a collection surplus exceeding the
full-year goal by P8 billion.
According to Morales, he has already submitted the names
of personnel for reshuffling to Finance Secretary
Margarito B. Teves.
He was
unhappy that some very large Customs jurisdictions
posted shortfalls as deep as 40 percent or even higher,
making the revamp inevitable.
Of the
17 district ports the BOC maintains around the country,
only five posted surpluses, it was reported.
But even
then, he remained understanding of the situation of his
collectors, whom he said had to contend with a sharply
appreciated peso that depressed import volumes and
values even as they also had to grapple with corruption
in their midst.
This
year’s macroeconomic goals were based on certain
assumptions, such as the exchange rate averaging P48 per
US dollar in the program, but subsequently recast to P43
per dollar.
“Some of
the assumptions did not materialize, including the
assumed exchange rate and volume of imports,” he said.
He said
the DOF estimated they lose P3 billion worth of duties
and taxes for every peso worth of appreciation, or P15
billion in this case.
He puts
it at only around P13.5 billion, adding that the
collection outlook was not so good if Merrill Lynch’s
economists were to be believed, forecasting the exchange
rate to hit P40 per dollar by year-end.
“But we
will exceed our [readjusted] target of P223 billion just
the same,” Morales stressed.
He
initially worried the BOC posted collection efficiency
of only 5.3 percent during the January to September
period, but later said they did fine.
His
projected 10-month efficiency went down to only 4.3
percent as actual collection totaled P171.705 billion
versus the goal of only P164.695 billion.
He also
said the “fear factor” should help them cut down or
eliminate corruption within the agency, no matter that
the anecdotal evidence proves not one customs crook has
been put behind bars.
Morales
begged to disagree, pointing out they built cases
resulting in the final conviction of eight personnel
just last year.
He did
not offer information to back up his claim of successful
convictions this year, however. |
