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Image Credit: Facebook screenshot

Manila: A plan to pry open and tax the millions of "Balikyan" (homecoming) boxes sent by millions of Filipinos abroad to their loved ones has backfired, further exposing the institutionalised corruption at the Bureau of Customs (BOC).
 
Now, a flood of angry reactions boiled over through social media, calling for the plan to tax goods sent by OFWs cheap, "insensitive and suicidal" for the Aquino government.

In a change of heart on Monday, President Benigno Aquino III has instructed the BOC to stop the physical inspections of Balikbayan boxes of Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) unless X-ray and K-9 examinations show they may contain contraband items such as drugs, guns or gun parts, watches and parts of high-end vehicles.

On Monday afternoon, Malacanang Palace official Abigail Valte announced on her Facebook page that Aquino made the decision after a meeting with Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima and the Bureau of Customs Commissioner Alberto Lina.

Inspections

If a suspected box must be physically inspected by BOC, Aquino said that it should request that an Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) representative or a designated officer of an OFW Association be present with provisions for CCTV monitoring of the inspection areas.
 
Employees who violate the protocols and engage in pilferage will be prosecuted and punished, according to Aquino's instructions.

He also encourages the public to submit videos and photographic evidence of illegal acts to authorities.
 
The DOF said that there is an estimated 1,500 containers of balikbayan boxes coming through Customs a month, translating to around 18,000 containers a year or around 7.2 million boxes.

BOC is seen as a fortress of official corruption. A March survey by CNN shows it tops the list of most corrupt Philippine agencies. It is considered the last frontier of crooks in bureaucracy that has been a tough nut to crack for Aquino.

Attempts to clean it up by Aquino in the last five years have been seen to fail. Computerisation of its operations had been resisted by BOC employees' union through the courts.

In a statement, the DOF said that all containers of balikbayan boxes will undergo mandatory X-ray and K-9 examination — at no cost to the sender or the overseas Filipino workers.

According to the statement, Aquino emphasized that OFW families view the balikbayan box as an integral part of the family relationship to nurture loved ones at home, a "tangible sign of their love and concern for their family members."

Earlier, OFWs took to social media to criticise the BOC's plan for more stringent implementation of the balikbayan box inspections.

Lina said that the government may have had a "change of heart" for the sake of the OFWs, but he stressed that his agency will continue chasing after smugglers.
 
"Maaaring lumambot kami alang-alang sa OFW pero hindi nawala ang ating gagawin bilang commissioner ng Customs kasi meron din tayong law to protect the country," Lina said.
 
In a statement, the DOF noted instances when unscrupulous individuals used balikbayan boxes to break the law.
 
Gun parts, ammunition and gun accessories were found in seven balikbayan boxes, while 81,529 tablets of anti-anxiety drugs were misdeclared as food supplements in November 2014.

Some 413 Casio G-Shock watches and even a custom Harley Davidson Chopper motorcycle of a Hollywood scriptwriter in 2011, among other high end car parts, were also delivered through balikbayan boxes.
 
Lina earlier claimed that the country loses P50 million in revenues a month due to technical smuggling through the Balikbayan boxes.

Most corrupt

But BOC is itself seen as the most corrupt government insitution. Senator Sonny Trillanes, who risked his military career to stage a coup against Gloria Arroyo, has exposed senior BOC officials and a certain "padrino" (godfather) who make millions from institutionalised smuggling operations through ports run by the BOC.

Trillanes said the ring nets at least P18 million per month, but he declined to name neither the influential BOC officials nor the padrino.

 


Many ordinary BOC staff drive high-end cars and posses unexplained wealth, often under the name of their relatives to evade government audits checking statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) of officials.

BOC's web of corruption has so far evaded closer scrutiny of the Aquino administration under its "daang matuwid" (straight path) battle cry to tackle official corruption.

John Phillip Sevilla, a former investment banker and Finance Undersecretary quit in April as BOC chief, only 16 months Aquino handpicked him to lead the bureau. Sevilla cited "political pressure" and influential cliques, including that of of the powerful, non-Catholic bloc-voting Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) sect.

Following his appointment, Sevilla admitted he had to deal with alleged interference by the INC in the agency's affairs. He made clear, however, that he has had no direct information linking the group to power play at the BOC.

Sevilla, in a statement, said he quit because he "disagreed with the appointment of (lawyer Terry) Raval “as director of the enforcement and security service" at BOC.

In announcing his resignation, Sevilla said he resigned because it's become “impossible” for him to to resist political influence peddling in the bureau, lamenting that he failed to fully bring accountability to the bureau.

General Danilo Lim, a renegade West Point-educated former Marines who sought to oust Arroyo in a coup, was named by Aquino to head the BOC. Unable to break the inscrutable chain of tainted money making their way from the smugglers to the pockets of BOC officials, Lim quit his post in July 2013.

While Lim was petrified by the culture of corruption within the agency, more puzzling was the fact that he declined to name the "big fish" or the gang that runs BOC. "Suffice it to say many are dripping their fingers into it," said Lim. "The problem here is big, may the solution should be radical. There are many (BOC) divisions that should be abolished," Lim told a Manila radio station after he resigned.

Former Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon, also appointment by Aquino but later quit his post, had even proposed to abolish the agency entirely in order to retire its most corrupt employees whose tenure is protected by Civil Service rules.

Former Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff Jessie Dellosa, who was appointed as Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence at BOC, said his “No tara, No take” policy in the Intelligence Group (IG) and other customs units is only "partly successful". “Tara” is customs slang for grease money paid by smugglers and unscrupulous port operators to corrupt personnel of the BOC or Department of Finance (DOF).

Senator Panfilo Lacson in April has lamented that long-standing corrupt practices at the BOC goes unabated. “Based on reports I’ve been receiving from knowledegable persons, the corruption continues at the bureau,” said Lacson, who earlier exposed what he called “3 o’clock habit” of some officials and personnel who meet and divide their “loot” every Friday.

This recent episode on Balikbayan boxes casts doubts over the Aquino administration’s resolve to end corruption and political accommodation at the Bureau.