A new and improved Bureau of Customs (BOC) is what the President and the public expect from the change in leadership at one of the most important and sensitive agencies of the national government.

And a new and improved customs bureau is what the newly appointed tandem of former Rep. Ruffy Biazon as commissioner and retired Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim as deputy commissioner for intelligence should be able to deliver within a reasonable period of time.

Biazon’s predecessor lasted just over a year in office, forced to resign after President Aquino expressed displeasure over the failure of the bureau to meet its targets and curb smuggling. What apparently did Angelito Alvarez in was the embarrassing spectacle of luxury vehicles entering surreptitiously through the southern backdoor, and more recently, the disappearance under mysterious circumstances of a big number of container vans that should have been levied the proper taxes.

Biazon comes to the job with an impressive record as a legislator, having served as representative of Muntinlupa for many years. And of course, Lim, who first came into national consciousness as one of the key leaders of the bloody 1989 failed coup that nearly toppled the Cory government, served time in military detention and was later reinstated in the military service, until he was again arrested for taking part in a failed putsch against the Arroyo administration.

With the Biazon-Lim duo taking over an agency that has earned the dubious reputation as among the most corrupt in the country, there is renewed hope that things would be better this time around.

We expect from them no less than a double-barreled attack on smuggling in all its forms, and an honest-to-goodness effort to uphold transparency and accountability as public servants.   

It’s not going to be a walk in the park, for sure.

Over the years, entrenched syndicates have made the BOC a major cesspool of corruption.

These syndicates have managed to defy the rules and rake in money that should otherwise go to the government.

There were even times, in different administrations, that former New People’s Army rebels and ex-military men were recruited to help fight smuggling. Guess who won.

Together with the Bureau of Internal Revenue, the customs bureau generates the revenues needed to make the government work—and work efficiently. 

That’s why the new BOC leadership should possess nerves of steel and staunchly resist any and all blandishments—and quite possibly, death threats—from smuggling syndicates and their protectors in the government. It’s a tall order, but then, we think it can be done, despite great odds.

We welcome the new designation of the leadership at the BOC and wish them well in their campaign to restore the battered image of customs personnel and make it work in the service of the people.

It cannot be business as usual at the customs bureau, or else the nation stands to lose billions that should go to lifting millions of Filipinos from abject poverty.