Personnel of the Port of Limay headed by District Collector William B. Balayo,center leads the blessing and deployment of two fast patrol boats at the Port Capinpin, Orion town, Bataan Tuesday morning. Photo by Mar T, Supnad
WHILE the Bureau of Customs (BOC) continues to intensify its anti corruption campaign against its own men, the Port of Limay, Bataan has also boosted its anti smuggling and piracy campaign by deploying two high speed boats to patrol Bataan coastal waters.
Owing to this campaign, happy days of the smugglers are numbered in Bataan coastal areas after the Bureau of Customs, Port of Limay, deployed this morning (Tuesday) two high speed patrol boats to run after them. Personnel of the Port of Limay led by District Collector William Balayo, led the blessing and deployment of two fast patrol boats at the Port Capinpin, Orion town, that was witnessed by local police led by Col Romell Velasco, Bataan police director; PNP martime police, coast guards, local newsmen and others. “Although the smugglers lied low when we arrived here but they do not try to enter our coastal waters here because they may slip here but they cannot go out,” warned Collector Balayo.
Protect coastal areas of Bataan
According to Balayo, a lawyer and CPA, the two patrol boats were provided by BoC central office headed by Customs Commissioner Rey Guerrero, as he (Balayo) requested in their bid to further protect the coastal areas of Bataan not only from smugglers but also from drug syndicates.
He said that the two fast patrol boats were equipped with high powered firearms and have the capability to engage in a tit-for-tat with armed smugglers.
“Our patrol boats are manned by our trained Customs police personnel,” pointed out Balayo.
Since Balayo was designated here as district collector, the Port of Limay has been collecting billions of surplus monthly, contrary to the previous administrations who had been marred by corruption that reached to the attention of President Duterte and had even been in cahoots with smugglers during their stints.
A former collector was reportedly being investigated for unexplained wealth after he was axed.
Highest monthly collection
Balayo and his personnel, meanwhile, have performed their first ever “tiktok dance” in celebration of their highest monthly collection ever in its entire history in the amount of P 10,870,352,157.00 for March.
Collector Balayo reported that this was a record-breaking collection ever in this Bataan port , saying “it is also capped by the highest ever surplus recorded by the Port of Limay in the amount of
P3,653,675,617.00 so far in Calendar Year 2022.”
“The officers and staff of the Port of Limay offers its humble effort to the Filipino people, knowing that the Government needs all the funds it can get to power us out of the pandemic,” Balayo posted in his report.
“Under the leadership of Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero, and the assistance of the Deputy Commissioners and Assistant Commissioner, and their relentless drive towards a world class customs administration and uncompromising demand for excellent public service, the Port of Limay was able to implement policies and practices that directly led to this milestone,” pointed out Collector Balayo.
He said that “Considering that the Port of Limay has consistently met its target and produced surplus collections every single month since June of 2021, or an unbroken 10-month winning streak, despite a significant increase in target for 2022, this is clearly not a mere lucky shot.
This is clear evidence that the digitalization of processes, the imposition of correct policies and the endless values transformation activities, are now all paying off.”
Extraordinary achievement
A lawyer and Certified Public Accountant, Balayo attributed the high collection to each and every one in the district and Mariveles subport under Collector Gregorio Tomagan, Jr., “for their heroic efforts to process all the entries and serve the stakeholders, leading to this extra-ordinary achievement.”
“The assessment, operations, FMP, ESS, CIIS, the DepCols, Subport Collector, LBD, Law Div, Admin staff, PGS and OSM, MISTG, the Contract of Service and even the cooks and janitors all played a vital role in this endeavor,” he added.
Balayo stressed that “collecting a surplus of P3,653,675,617.00 is difficult to even imagine, much less hope to achieve. Thus, it has been a long running joke among us that if we ever collect more than P3B in surplus, we would offer a tiktok dance. “
“Against the odds, and in wide eyed disbelief and shock, we did it (tiktok). Our word is our bond. We do what we promise to do, even in jest, so we beg your pardon and your indulgence for this lousy tiktok dance, “he added.
Within the same timeline, the BOC-Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service (CIIS) already conducted 250 personnel investigations which resulted in the filing of one administrative case before the BOC-Legal Service.
In addition, the BOC also transmitted six (6) cases to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI). In the period, two (2) BOC employees were dismissed, two (2) were suspended, one (1) was reprimanded, 85 were relieved, and nine (9) were reshuffled or transferred to various offices and ports due to irregular and unlawful activities.
Improved rating
Consequently, with the numerous initiatives of the BOC to boost the level of integrity within the organization, evident developments were indeed attained by the agency as verified by the improved ratings from the general public and agency stakeholders through the Awareness, Institutional Trust, and Satisfaction Survey (AITS) conducted by the Philippine Statistics & Research Center (PSRC). In 2021, the Bureau’s trust rating is already at 94% as compared to 30% in 2020.
Moreover, to ensure that all reforms will be actualized, all units and offices under the BOC continues to undertake the ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management System (ISO QMS) Certification.
As of March 2022, 12 BOC offices composing of ports, sub-ports, and Customer Care Centers were already certified while the rest are in various stages of the ISO compliance process. Under the leadership of Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero, the BOC’s unwavering implementation of its anti-corruption campaign initiatives greatly contributes to the success of the agency in curbing and rectifying corrupt practices throughout the organization. Moving forward, the BOC will continue to boost the level of integrity among its employees as the Bureau transforms itself to becoming a modernized and credible customs administration that is among the world’s best.
