Philippines anti-graft body to probe 'millionaire's club'

This plan was disclosed to the Inquirer on Saturday by a top Customs official, who also said the 27 district collectors who were recently transferred to the newly created Customs Policy Research Office (CPRO) would be included in the investigations.

“It is common knowledge at customs that some of the collectors are members of the ‘millionaires club’, a few of them are actually billionaires, based on our initial inquiries,” the official said.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed that the collectors had been placed on “floating status.”

The RIPS lifestyle and tax liability investigations are “part of the RARP [or Revenue Administration Reform Project] of the finance department”, the highly placed source added.

“RIPS is tasked to strengthen the surveillance capacity and instil discipline, among other functions, in Department of Finance-attached agencies [like the Bureau of Customs and the Bureau of Internal Revenue] through administrative actions, such as temporary suspensions and dismissals,” the source said.

 

Financial rewards

Citing a reform programme report, the official also said that RIPS “focuses on the detection and punishment of all forms of malfeasance that revenue agents may commit to get financial rewards” from the public, mainly taxpayers and traders.

“By increasing the likelihood of detection and punishment, the frequency of such incidents will decline, improve the image and performance of revenue-generating agencies and improve the country’s business climate,” the source added.

Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon told reporters on Friday that he had “elevated” port collectors, adding that his order reassigning them to the CPRO was valid. He said five of the 15 who sought temporary restraining order from the Manila Regional Trial Court had complied with his order and were reporting to the CPRO.

Biazon went on to say that the customs reform programme was “moving in the right direction”.

He added that the district collectors could return to their ports of origin while the restraining order was in effect. The Manila court on Friday extended the order for 20 days, including the original 72-hour respite, or until October 20.

Meanwhile, over the weekend, Biazon called on the district collectors to meet their collection targets if they wanted to stay in their posts.

“While they are there, my expectation is that they will perform to the best of their abilities while the order is in effect. They should show that they are port collectors. They should show ‘1,000 per cent’ performance… Who knows, maybe after the 17-day period, they will be able to change the Department of Finance’s mind and the leadership will say the district collectors are doing okay and no longer need to be transferred,” he said, noting that the restraining order did not hamper customs operations. 

Those who sought the restraining order claimed that it was beyond Biazon’s power to transfer them to a body outside the Bureau of Customs, adding that the transfer was part of a plan to demote and dismiss them.