Alvarez's true test

Sports, they say, doesn’t build character as much as it exposes it. In the case of new Customs Commissioner Lito Alvarez, however, perhaps we should let him display more of what he’s made of—through his ability to get the job done—before deciding if he is indeed unfit for the position that he has assumed.

Of course, it’s been let known by some sectors in the golfing community that Alvarez is not worthy of becoming Customs commissioner because he was suspended for cheating at this year’s annual centerpiece Mango Tee golf tournament of the exclusive Alabang Country Club, where Alvarez is a member. One golfer-senator, in fact, has axiomatically declared that if Alvarez cheats at golf, then he will cheat at Customs.

But, in golfing parlance, perhaps Alvarez should be allowed to hit the equivalent of a provisional ball, something that the rules of the game allow when there is a suspicion that the first ball one has hit has gone astray. And then, if he messes up again, we can all decide to penalize him by bundling him out of office posthaste.

Alvarez’s golfing infractions are certainly not unknown to the authority that appointed him. The Customs chief himself has admitted that the incident at Alabang came up during the deliberations concerning his nomination to the post—but that President Noynoy Aquino gave him the job anyway.

Indeed, it seems clear that the President and his advisers have deemed that Alvarez’s golf gaffe did not detract from his ability to collect taxes and duties on imported goods in favor of the government. And because Alvarez has been assigned to head an agency where cheating is not, to be kind, entirely a foreign concept, one has to admire the intended or unintentional irony that surrounds this particular appointment.

On the other hand, Alvarez must be the first to realize that his actions on the golf course have very little to do with the fact that he must perform as expected if he intends to stay long in his job. And that, last we checked, Customs is still expected to collected taxes and duties in the amount of P280 billion this year, whether or not Alvarez touches a golf club again for the rest of his life.

Making that number or surpassing it in terms of collections is the only sure test of Alvarez’s ability as a suitable Customs chief— not the number on any golf scorecard that he signs. And if Alvarez knows what’s good for him and the entire government that is relying on him to hit his collection target, he will move on from what happened in Alabang and devote all his efforts to reaching the goal that has been put before him.

Like the Aquino administration itself, perhaps we should allow Alvarez the opportunity to start afresh and do all he can to get the job done. If we cannot give the new administration the opportunity to show us what it can do, then we might as well have never ended the sniping and partisanship that marked the last election campaign.

Besides, all of us have a stake in seeing this administration succeed, because that will benefit the entire country. And if the Customs bureau gets to shake off its oft-deserved reputation as a hotbed of corruption during the current administration, then that will be a most welcome side effect, as well.

Needless to say, Alvarez should realize that because of what happened in Alabang, he will probably have to work harder than any previous Customs chief to make his collection target. As head of one of the top three revenue-generating agencies in an administration that has had to revise its deficit targets upward in anticipation of flagging income, Alvarez also shoulders the additional burden of helping the Aquino government implement its priority projects without sinking the country deeper into debt.

This is not, after all, some golf game where mere pride and a bunch of trophies are at stake. For the government and the citizenry, Alvarez’s performance at Customs could spell the difference between helping uplift the nation and business as usual for the smugglers and their corrupt co-conspirators inside the bureau.

So Alvarez is in a unique position to breathe life into Aquino’s mantra of no poverty and no corruption. And if he fails to do his job, he will be able to spend the rest of his life explaining how he is not a cheat—and an incompetent one, at that —when he retires to the golf course after his brief, unremarkable stint as Customs commissioner.

* * *

Here’s a quick way for Alvarez to prove how serious he is about collecting revenues for the government at the Customs bureau: he can look into the reported rampant smuggling into the country of Turkish flour.

A detailed report prepared for the bureau recently estimated that smugglers of cheap, low-nutrient Turkish flour has caused the government to lose P51 million in import duties and taxes in the first five months of this year alone. And the foregone revenues were reportedly due to the operations of only eight importing companies that brought in the flour.

According to the report, which Alvarez can very easily access, two of the eight companies used the Manila International Container Port as point of entry while a third used both the MICP and the Port of Manila. The operations of the first company caused the government to lose at least P13.8 million when it imported 8,592 metric tons of the product but declared only 5,389 tons, while the second imported 7,086 MT while declaring only 4,961, thus evading the payment of P6.9 million.

The third importer supposedly brought in 10,488 MT of Turkish flour but undervalued the shipment by 23.3 percent to avoid paying P6.9 million which should have been collected by the Customs bureau. The imported flour was valued at $24.77 per ton when the reference value of the product by Customs is $300 per MT.

While the report details the alleged smuggling and undervaluation of Turkish flour during the previous Arroyo administration, Alvarez now has the responsibility to prove that this irregularity will not continue under the new administration. And a new report concerning Turkish flour smuggling under the Aquino administration, we heard, is already being prepared.

Alvarez can make sure that the new report will not show that it’s business as usual for the flour smugglers. And that his own promise for influence-peddlers at the ports is not just empty talk from someone who really cannot do the job he was contracted to perform.

Get to work, Commissioner. You were selected for the job despite supposed serious questions about your honesty and integrity on the golf course—now it’s time to prove the doubters wrong in the real world, where how you perform really matters.

-Jojo Robles

Source: http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/insideOpinion.htm?f=2010/july/21/jojorobles.isx&d=2010/july/21

An Open Letter to President Noynoy Aquino

Our beloved President Aquino


You said in your well-applauded inaugural address last June 30: “We will strengthen collections by the Bureau of Internal Revenue and we will fight corruption in the Bureau of Customs in order to fund our objectives for the public welfare…”

You also said that we, the Filipino people, can bring our concerns to you directly because, to borrow your own words, we are “your boss.”

In this light, we are imploring you to once and for all put a stop to the well-reported technical smuggling of Turkish flour into the country by some unscrupulous traders and their protectors at Customs.

In 2009 alone, it is estimated that government lost at least P50 million in duties and other taxes due to the undervaluation of Turkish flour entering our ports.

If Turkish flour smuggling goes unchecked, it could translate to billions of pesos in foregone government revenues in the six years of your administration.

Likewise, it will undermine your avowed stance that “if no one is corrupt, no one will be poor.”

Mr. President, as you read this, please consider that many of our countrymen unknowingly eat pandesal made from Turkish flour with low nutrient content mixed with local flour to mask its inferior quality.

Thus, this matter requires your immediate and decisive action because some greedy traders are only too willing to endanger our people’s health and well-being just so they can make huge profits.

Again, in closing, we go back to your inspiring inaugural speech, Mr. President:

"To our impoverished countrymen, starting today, your government will be your champion.”

Turkish flour smuggling worsens

Smuggling of Turkish flour went unabated in the first five months of 2010 with government revenue losses for the period estimated to reach P51 million, according to local flour millers.

Ric M. Pinca, executive director of the Philippine Association of Flour Millers, had said that the losses covered only importations done by eight companies and did not include value added tax and import duty losses from misdeclared importations.

Turkish flour had been misdeclared as other items like soybean meal, which enjoyed zero duty and were not covered by VAT.

Pinca said that PAFMIL had already brought the matter to the attention of the Customs bureau although Commissioner-designate Alvarez hasn’t issued any official statement on the lingering problem.

Smugglers had been found to have declared import value of Turkish flours as low as $24.77 per metric ton, or just nine percent of the BOC value reference for Turkish flour of $300/MT.

The losses were the result of the undervaluation of imports by the eight companies, which Pinca had refused to identify.

One of the eight companies imported 8,592 MT of Turkish flour but declared only 5,389MT, with government losing at least P13.8 million, he said.

About 7,086MT was brought in by another company but it declared only 4,961MT, causing the government to lose P12.1 million in duties and VAT.

Pinca said that a third importer declared a total of 10,488MT but that it undervalued it by 23.3 percent, evading tax payment of P6.9 million.

The PAFMIL official revealed that the first two companies’ shipments came in through the Manila International Container Port (MICP) while the third passed through the MICP and the Port of Manila.

Source: http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/insideNation.htm?f=2010/july/19/nation5.isx&d=2010/july/19

Gov’t lost P51M in Turkish flour smuggling, millers say

The government might have lost P51 million in revenues from the technical smuggling of Turkish flour in the first five months of the year, according to Ric M. Pinca, executive director of the Philippine Association of Flour Millers (PAFMIL).

Pinca said the estimate was contained in documents submitted by PAFMIL to the Bureau of Customs (BOC).

Pinca said these losses do not include value added tax and import duty losses from flour importations which were declared as other items, such as soybean meal, which enjoys zero duty and are not covered by VAT.

He said smugglers declare import values as low as 24.77 per metric ton or only nine percent of the BOC value reference for Turkish flour of $300 per mt.

Pinca said the losses were incurred from the undervaluation of imports by just eight companies alone but PAFMIL would not reveal the names of the flour importers pending the BOC investigation.

Pinca said one company imported 8,592 mt of Turkish flour but declared only 5,389 mt.. PAFMIL estimates government loss here at P13.8 million.

Another company brought in 7,086 mt. of Turkish flour but declared only 4,961 mt., evading payment of P12.1 million in duties and VAT.

A third importer declared a total of 10,488 mt importation but undervalued it by 23.3 percent, thus evading payment of P6.9 million in VAT and import duties.

Pinca said the first two companies’ shipment came in through the Manila international Container Port (MICP) while the third’s passed through both the MICP and the Port of Manila (POM).

Source: http://www.malaya.com.ph/07162010/busi8.html