Philippines Board of Customs does not have a great reputation. The president
once called them the Bureau of Corruption, a play on the BOC acronym. April's
news that the previous reforming Commissioner of Customs John Sevilla was
standing down was greeted with great disappointment in the IP community. He
started a major push to reform (see here)
This led to the commencement of regular border seizures (as opposed to
suspicious inland seizures long after the goods passed through the borders).
The change was encouraging. His resignation he said was due to politics, such as
apolitical appointees like lawyer Teddy Raval, being made head of BOC’s
Intellectual Property Rights Division (IPRD), which he did not approve. He also
made it very clear that improving accountability and cleanliness was still a
work in progress. He was replaced by Businessman Alberto Lina.
Now a case with suspicious circumstances has exposed certain shady
practices. On May 1st Customs officials seized 12 packages of fake medicines
for hypertension, heart ailment and vitamin supplements imported from Pakistan
and destined for a trader called Jenelyn Higbok in Manila. A formal alert order
had been issued by Customs' Intelligence Group seeking further investigation
and examination of the packages. However the packages were released on May 7,
2015. 2 Customs officials have now been
implicated in this unauthorized release. They have since been dismissed. The suggestion was that the information was
not properly circulated, but in many cases officials are known to be complicit
in smuggling. Fortunately the packages
were located and seized again. They will be examined tested by the FDA. Then
appropriate forfeiture proceedings should be instituted.
This is perhaps an important statement that the Philippines will not
tolerate misbehavior at Customs. One hopes this continues the previous good
work of the former director.
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