CUSTOMS Commissioner Isidro Lapeña dissolved the 15 sections of Formal Entry Division (FED) of the Port of Manila as part of his reform to rid the bureau of rampant corruption.
Lapeña said Tuesday the transacting public could instead transact and monitor the status of entry documents submitted using the Status Verification System.
“We will be having a queuing system for our importers and brokers. All 15 sections of the PoM and the Manila International Container Port will be removed to lessen face-to-face transactions and familiarity between and among Customs examiners and appraisers, Customs brokers and processors and to prevent collusion,” Lapeña said.
SVS has a tracking system that can identify the current status of the entry documents as well as the timeframe to complete the processing.
The stakeholder needs to log in to the system to access the data in the system.
Under the SVS, valuation of imported goods can be monitored once the examiners or appraisers input the data in the system, whether the particular shipment was benchmarked or grossly undervalued.
Lapeña said there was marked improvement at the graft-ridden bureau since he assumed office but admitted that “benchmarking,” an illegal form of assessing the value of goods and one of the main sources of corruption, still exists.
“Under the new queuing system, any examiner can be assigned to any broker or shipment at any given time, which would effectively remove familiarity with brokers and importers,” the customs chief said.
“The removal of FED sections will also check the competence of the Customs examiners or appraisers aside from preventing the conspiracy between the bureau employees and stakeholders. With the passage of the CMTA [Customs Modernization and Tariff Act], we also have to check if our employees are adept with the new laws on Customs,” according to Port of Manila district collector Ernie Aquino.
“The queuing system can also be used to verify if the Customs examiners are applying benchmarking or the correct valuation,” he added.