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FPI tells Customs: Stop smuggling, meet target

By Ayen Infante

02/12/2009

A local trade group shares the Bureau of Customs (BoC) belief that it will likely fail to meet a P317-billion revenue target this year for a different reason.

While Customs officials described the goal as ambitious, the Federation of Philippine Industries (FPI) said the goal is beyond reach because of Customs’ failure to stop technical smuggling in all ports of the country.

FPI president Jesus Arranza said the target would have been easy to meet if the agency would only implement its numerous proposals on how to stop technical smuggling in the country.

Arranza said based on records from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the government is losing P140 billion in revenues each year due to the misdeclaration, misclassification and under-valuation of imported goods.

“So instead of complaining that the BoC target for the year is too high, Customs officials should buckle down to work and improve on their collection efficiency,” Arranza said.

He pointed out that aside from jacking up the government’s revenue collection, Customs will also help domestic industries maintain their competitiveness in the local market if technical smuggling is prevented.

On Monday, Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales told reporters he would ask the inter-agency Development Budget Coordination Committee to reconsider the P317-billion collection target it set for the BoC since it is too high, considering oil importation has dropped to $32 per barrel from $75 per barrel in October when the collection assumptions were made.

Arranza added the FPI recently urged the BoC to use its powers under the Tariff and Customs Code to acquire imported goods under question for possible undervaluation.

He said the FPI also wrote a letter to Malacañang to reiterate this, noting that once the compulsory acquisition scheme is adopted by Customs, importers will surely be dissuaded to undervalue their shipments for fear that their goods will just fall in the hands of the government.

Arranza said the member-industries and companies of FPI have all committed to help Customs in the purchase and warehousing of the undervalued goods that the agency will acquire.

He added the offer of the United Coconut Planters Bank to lend money to the BoC for the payment of the undervalued shipments that it will acquire still stands.

Aside from this, Arranza said Finance Secretary Margarito Teves has given his imprimatur for the adoption of this scheme.

“So nothing should stop the BoC from implementing this compulsory acquisition of undervalued goods now. If Commissioner Morales wants to meet his collection target, this is one way to do it,” he said.

The other measures proposed by the FPI to the BoC to curb technical smuggling include the review and closure of Customs Bonded Warehouses, the order requiring the vessels to transmit to the Department of Agriculture, Department of Trade and Industry and other pertinent agencies the copies of the inward foreign manifest that they are sending to the BoC.