The Bureau of Customs (BOC) based at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) intensified its efforts in the last two quarters of 2016 to help protect the country from the drug scourge, as well as assist other government agencies in carrying out the government’s campaign against corruption and smuggling.
As a result, the BOC-Naia was able to significantly enhance its revenue collection, intercept the entry of some P242 million-worth of high-grade cocaine at the Naia, along with other types of narcotics and illegal substances, and apprehend devices and paraphernalia used for money laundering and illegal gambling.
Year-on-year collection at the BOC-Naia went up by 28 percent, from P1.36 billion in 2015, to P1.9 billion in 2016, according to a bureau report to Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III.
Actual collection amounted to P8.3 billion in the third quarter and P8.4 billion in the fourth quarter, the BOC unit told Dominguez.
For the entire year, the BOC-Naia’s collections already reached P33.7 billion as of the third week of December 2016, which was 93.8 percent of the full-year target of P36.12 billion.
Customs Commissioner Nicanor E. Faeldon also issued a new order covering the Naia Collection District III, requiring accredited public bonded warehouses to provide the BOC the necessary tools and equipment, such a x-ray machines, closed-circuit televisions and computers, to enhance their revenue collection and strengthen enforcement initiatives.
Cash collection with monetized currencies seized from airline passengers since January 2016 have reached P33.7 billion.
The BOC-Naia also created an Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) Lane at the Naia International Passenger Terminals 1, 2 and 3 in line with the thrust to further assist and provide hassle-free clearance for arriving OFWs.
Dominguez lauded the BOC-Naia for the series of arrests of suspected drug couriers with the help of airport and drug enforcement authorities at the Naia.
Last November 14 the BOC-Naia Interagency Drug Interdiction Group (Iadig), apprehended Malaysian Nasir Uddin Bin Mohd Hasnan who was found carrying 4.6 kilos of high-grade cocaine with an estimated street value of P23 million.
Last October 17 22-year-old Genesis Lorena Pineda Salazar was found carrying 4.3 kilograms of cocaine worth P21.5 million.
The Customs team at the Naia, working under the Iadig and in close coordination with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), also arrested last October 15 Brazilian Yasmin Silva, who was found carrying 6.8 kilos of cocaine with a street value of P34 million.
Last October 5, the Iadig nabbed two Chinese from Hong Kong and a Russian at the airport for trying to smuggle in 27.9 kilos of cocaine with a street value of P139.5 million.
The Iadig apprehended Chan Kawai and Pau Homanevan, both Chinese nationals from Hong Kong, and Kirdyushkin Yury, a Russian, who arrived separately on an Emirates flight from Hong Kong. with a report by Rea Cu