A PARTY-list lawmaker on Thursday warned smugglers had apparently gone high-tech and might have compromised BoC’s computer system with the aggressive anti-corruption campaign in the Bureau of Customs under Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon.
Puwersa ng Bayaning Atleta Party-List Rep. Jericho Nograles said reports reaching his office said the P6.4 billion worth of shabu seized by the BoC at a warehouse in Valenzuela managed to slip through the tight Customs protocols because of the tampered computer system that manages the classifications of shipments.
This, as Nograles urged Commissioner Faeldon to look into the matter as he recommended a thorough review on the BoC’s computerization contract during the Aquino administration.
He pointed out that botched shipment of the P6.4 billion worth of shabu might just be one of the many shabu shipments that slipped through the BoC’s green lane.
“We need to find out if the BoC computer system has been compromised due to remote hacking or there are some BoC personnel with access to its computer system who are working with smugglers. I would not be surprised if the people who are operating the system are the very same people who are now involved in this high-tech smuggling scheme,” Nograles said.
Nograles said the BoC has adopted an automated system of classifying shipments and this is managed by the bureau’s Risk Management Office.
“Shipments with ‘green lane’ designations are favored importers with long and unblemished record in their transactions with the BoC,” he said.
Importers given the green lane designation can expedite their import and export transactions through the so-called selectivity system which automatically instructs an exporter/importer to pay their documentary stamp through an authorized agent bank and can immediately proceed to load or unload their shipment without going through any documentary scrutiny by the BoC.
Nograles said this kind of privilege was given to highly reputable importers and exporters and had a long and impeccable record with the BoC such as the big retail stores and big distributor chains of various goods and commodities.
“In short, you can’t be designated into the green lane if you are a first-timer of a small-time importer or exporter. This is reserved for big corporations, retail companies and distribution chains,” Nograles said.
To ensure that the classification is corruption free, Nograles said the BoC had adopted an automation system whereby its computer system automatically classified its clients based on the BoC computer database of its importers and exporters.
Had it not been for the tip from the International Enforcement Cooperation Division of Anti-Smuggling Bureau of the Chinese Customs agency, the shabu shipment would have never been discovered, Nograles said.
“The automated classification was made precisely to deter BoC people from extending favors to certain importers but it’s another problem if smugglers are actually capable of tampering with the actual computer system,” Nograles said.
