BOC urged to stop undervaluation at ports
ALBAY Representative Joey Salceda welcomed the appointment of Bienvenido Rubio as commissioner of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and he called on the official to address the rampant undervaluation in the country’s ports
According to Salceda, Rubio will be having much on his plate to resolve such as the perennial issues of misdeclaration of some agricultural products and commodities.
Rubio was appointed to head the BoC replacing Yogi Filemon Ruiz who led in an acting capacity.
He worked under the Assessment and Operations Coordinating Group prior to his appointment as full-time commissioner.
“I am thus hopeful that he would act immediately to curtail rampant undervaluation in our ports. I am also hopeful that he would be able to help address the perennial issues of misdeclaration, especially in palm oil, wheat, and other key agricultural commodities where there are differences in tariff among similar products,” Salceda said.
The solon also asked Rubio to assure that ports run on time as this is essential to the economy to pick up.
“This forms part of Commissioner Rubio’s experience. I expect more imports of capital goods and other products necessary for business in the coming months. Part of his mandate must be to ensure that these goods are released without delay,” he added.
Among his first requests to Rubio is to look into bottlenecks in implementing the BOC’s computerization.
This, according to Salceda, would be one of the most effective ways to limit technical and outright smuggling in our ports.
Meanwhile, the solon said he is looking forward to working with Rubio on reforms to make customs enforcement more effective.
