By Joel R. San Juan
Customs Commissioner Alberto Lina disclosed on Wednesday plans of the bureau to allow importers to pay their duties and taxes through treasury bonds in order to hasten the release of their shipments.
Lina, at a news briefing, said the Bureau of Customs (BOC) has already sought the Department of Finance’s position on the matter and will finalize the plan once all their queries are addressed.
Lina said the plan will complement the present super green lane (SGL) facility that the BOC has set up to give special privileges related to the speedy release of shipments to so-called good guys in the industry.
Under Customs Memorandum Order 28-2003, an importer may be accredited as an SGL user based on the following qualifications:
The importer is accredited by the BOC in accordance with existing rules and regulations; the importer has been actively engaged in the import business for at least one year at the time of filing his/her application for SGL accreditation; the importer is a regular importer of the same type of articles; the importer is a BOC-registered user of remote lodgment facilities and a holder of Certificate of Registration for that purpose; and the importer is willing to undergo voluntary audit as per CAO 5-2001.
“On top of that meron kaming idadagdag na proseso, parang sa America, ang tawag nila doon ay term bond. Doon talagang pagdating ng shipment mo meron silang isang maliit na slip of paper and then you can file the entry after three days ganoon dun eh pero clear ka agad,” Lina explained.
“Pero meron silang bond, ito ang ating gagawin diyan aside from SGL and green lane…magpa-file sila ng term bond, pero ang bond na ipa-file namin na still under consideration ay treasury bonds, treasury notes parang trust, ng tinitingnan naming estimated duties and taxes,” he added.
He added that using treasury notes is advantageous to the government as it will also redound to more profit for the bureau.
“Kumikita rin ’yun, at the same time protected ng government at mabilis,” Lina said.
Lina also said he would be introducing a “change management” scheme that would allow officers of the Intelligence Group and Enforcement Group of the BOC to perform other functions such as to assess the duties and taxes of shipments.
“Our employees should be cross trained because we have ports that have only one or two IG [intelligence group] or EG [enforcement group] men and we want to train them on Customs matters and not only doing a police line work,” Lina added.
He noted that the setup is patterned in other countries wherein the security personnel are taught how to be an appraiser.
Lina thought of the plan after visiting several ports where he discovered that there has been an increase in the volume of cargoes coming in but their personnel are insufficient to ensure a speedy facilitation of the cargoes.
However, in some other ports, the scenario was the opposite because employees have more idle time due to low number of shipments entering their port.