Bill sets aside 1% of BOC revenue to fund modernization program

Muntinlupa representative and former customs commissioner Rozzano Rufino Biazon has filed a bill amending the three-month old Customs Modernization and Tariff Act (CMTA) by allowing the Bureau of Customs (BOC) to use part of its income to fund its modernization program.

House Bill (HB) No. 1253—or An Act Amending Republic Act No. 10863 Otherwise Known as the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act—has been referred to the Lower House’s Ways and Means Committee.

CMTA was signed into law only in May, under the 16th Congress. Its implementing rules and regulations have yet to be issued.

In his explanatory note, Biazon said the passage of CMTA is “laudable as it updated the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines to pave the way for reforms and the modernization of the Bureau of Customs.”

Biazon noted, however, that transforming BOC into an efficient and effective agency “would not be possible if the Bureau is stymied by obsolete or lack of equipment and modern information and technology systems.”

He said that to give BOC more leeway to pursue its IT modernization program, “it should be allowed to use part of its income.”

In this manner, he added, BOC would “hopefully be able to move faster in modernizing its equipment and information and technology systems.”

HB No. 1253 seeks to amend R.A. No. 10863 by inserting a new section after Section 205.

The proposed Section 206, or the Use of Income, states that BOC “is authorized to use at least one percent (1%) of its annual income derived from its collection of customs duties and taxes to enable it to pursue the various components of its modernization program such as, but not limited to—acquisition,  upgrading and modernization of equipment and information technology equipment and systems; and construction, repair and rehabilitation of structures and facilities—provided that no amount of said income shall be used to fund personal services expenditures.”

Succeeding sections of R.A. No. 10863 shall be amended and renumbered accordingly.

The bill orders the customs commissioner to promulgate the implementing rules and regulations within 120 days of its effectivity.

Based on the General Appropriations Act of 2016, BOC’s approved budget declined 17.2% to P2.63 billion this year from P3.06 billion in 2015.

For 2016, BOC aims to collect P456.46 million in duties and taxes. Actual cash collection is expected to increase by 10% and proceeds from the sale of forfeited and abandoned goods by 40%. – Roumina Pablo

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