“Anybody who has observed the Manila port area knows that it isn’t physically feasible to open and scour through each and every box and cargo container passing through the facility.”
by Ducky Paredes
The Philippines is a smugglers’ paradise. We have so much shoreline where shipments can sneak into the country and there are not enough Coast Guard vessels to guard every beachhead. We also have the phenomenon of relatives of even cabinet-level officials – fathers, brothers and husbands – who have taken up smuggling as a income-generating hobby.
Thus, the fact that the Bureau of Customs (BOC) has taken to adopting measures to give even greater security to our ports and docks has to be a welcome one. From having been in government at one time, I am convinced that the majority of personnel in the bureaucracy are honest and want to do a good job. But, what is one to do when the bosses themselves are crooks who only fend for themselves?
When government modernizes and improves its systems, it is always a good thing. (Leasing machines as the Comelec will be doing for the 2010 elections, however, does not improve our electoral system since there is no commitment to the future. Are we leasing machines again in 2013 and what will this cost then – P15 billion? That seems to me to be a commitment to continuing corruption.)
The BOC proudly announced recently that it acquired 29 x-ray inspection machines. BOC Commissioner Napoleon Morales ordered that the units be deployed to some of the busiest ports in the country, including those of Manila, Cebu, Cagayan de Oro, General Santos, Davao, Batangas, Clark, Zamboanga and the Manila International Containers Port (MICP).
Hopefully, these giant x-ray machines will make the lives of smugglers more difficult. Most smugglers use misdeclaration and outright deception to sneak in their goods. Having a machine that can quite literally look into the sealed containers that bring in their goods will be a great plus in the war against smuggling.
Anybody who has observed the Manila port area knows that it isn’t physically feasible to open and scour through each and every cargo container and crate and box that passes through the facility. The place is constantly abuzz with frantic activity, and even if you could find a crack team of inspectors who can miraculously inspect every item in each shipment, the time it takes to do this would cause business and trade to grind to a halt. Simply put, the volume of shipments is just too overwhelming without the help of these machines.
The answer to this logistical nightmare is, of course, to go high tech. A number of government agencies already see the importance of utilizing the newest technology to speed up operations. The Bureau of Customs is the latest organization to acquire some cutting-edge tools to get the job done with greater efficiency. Since the x-ray machines are non-intrusive and do not require the physical examination of packages, shipments can be processed with greater speed and accuracy. Likewise, contraband items such as drugs and pirated media have less chances of sneaking into our country by being mixed with legitimate goods.
For instance, recently, the machines proved their worth when an illegal shipment of blank CDs were seized by the BOC’s operatives. Commissioner Morales and Atty. Ma. Lourdes V. Mangaoang met with Optical Media Board (OMB) Chair Edu Manzano over the confiscated materials. According to Chairman Manzano, the seized materials were consigned to illegal replicating plants. Thanks to this seizure, the video pirates lost a lot. They were unable to produce a month’s supply of pirated CDs and DVDs.
Using these giant x-ray machines also places our portside inspection at par with international standards. According to the World Customs Organization (WCO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO), the use of x-ray scanners ranks as one of the most effective methods of preventing illegal goods from entering one’s country. In line with this, the U.S. Safe Port Act requires using these machines in all US ports.
The x-ray machines also provide the benefit of greater revenue generation, as they will aid the BOC’s assessment division in determining the correct valuation and classification of goods. BOC personnel will also be able to enforce tariff and customs laws more effectively.
Less smuggled junk, greater tax revenue. That’s the way for the BOC to go. Instead of giving billions away to a Swiss firm whose proposal will cost more than the added revenue they could possibly generate and is another way of putting graft money in the pockets of well-connected crooks, bringing in these machines is true modernization.
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Unite Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) experts meeting in Florence, Italy in the early 1950s adopted an international agreement to promote international understanding and peace by lowering barriers to the exchange of cultural, scientific and educational materials, most importantly by waiving tariffs on such materials. The agreement covers diverse categories: books and other printed materials, art and museum pieces, tourism materials, audiovisual materials and the like. The Philippines signed this treaty on August 7, 1979.
Today the Bureau of Customs has taken upon itself the judgment of which books and other materials they will allow into the country tax-free, when the Florence Agreement (to which the Philippines is a signatory) includes all books, whether fictional, scientific or simply entertaining.
So, why are our senators diddling over sex videos (that ought to be the concern primarily of the courts and the police) instead of looking into why the BOC has overturned a Senate resolution that made the Philippines a signatory to the Florence Agreement. Approving treaties is one of the exclusive powers and duties of the Senate, enshrined in our Constitution: “No treaty or international agreement shall be valid and effective unless concurred in by at least two-thirds of all the Members of the Senate.”
So, why are our Senators wasting their time salivating over non-educational sex videos when the Bureau of Customs has – illegally and with grave abuse of power — nullified the Senate’s approval of this UNESCO Treaty in 1979? Are our present senators too dumb to sense that a mere bureau of the executive department has reversed a senate action? Or, are our present senators now so focused on themselves that such concerns as these no longer matter to them?
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“There is no perfect world. Everything must be a compromise. However, I firmly believe that we need not borrow from the future, especially if what we are going to borrow is fear.” – Mayor Alfredo Lim on approving Ordinance 7177 that reverted Pandacan to an industrial zone to prevent job losses and allow the oil depots to stay in Manila.
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hvp 05.31.09)
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