Reformatting government DUTERTE SAYS CUSTOMS, BIR SHOULD BE PRIVATIZED

By Manny Piñol

Davao City Mayor Rody Duterte has yet to make up his mind on the people’s call for him to run for President but he says if it is his destiny to become the country’s leader, he would like to see a radical overhaul of government, including the privatisation the graft-ridden Bureau of Customs.

“I don’t covet the Presidency but if by God’s will I would be President, I would not sit there for six uneventful years and continue the system as it is today,” Duterte said yesterday, repeating earlier pronouncements made in previous speaking engagements.

“The government is like a computer infected with a malevolent virus and there is an urgent need to reformat it. We really have to overhaul the system,” he said.

Since January this year, Duterte has been involved in speaking engagements all over the country proposing for a shift from the highly-centralized Unitary Presidential system to a Federal Parliamentary form which he said would end the monopoly of power and control of the country’s finances by the “Political Lords” in Metro Manila.

In the “Listening Tour” which brought him to several areas in the country including the typhoon-whipped Catanduanes, Duterte said creating semi-autonomous Federal States would spur the development of the countryside and create more jobs and income opportunities for the people of the rural areas.

Duterte said Federalism would also result in an equitable sharing of political representation.

“Federalism is the best option in addressing the Bangsamoro Problem in the Southern Philippines. The Muslim tribes of Central Mindanao could have their own State just as the Cordillerans would have theirs,” Duterte said.

In the government overhaul that he proposes, Duterte said that the Bureau of Customs, which recently made the headlines following the controversial decision of its head, Alberto Lina, to open Balikbayan Boxes for duties and tariff valuation, should be privatised to put an end to well-entrenched syndicate composed of corrupt officials and employees.

“The Bureau of Customs should be privatised. That is the only way to dismantle and end the systemic corruption in that agency,” Duterte said.

“After Customs, the BIR (Bureau of Internal Revenue) and GSIS (Government Service Insurance System) should go private and their functions could taken over by reputable firms which operate much like the SGS,” Duterte said.

Duterte was referring to the Société Générale de Surveillance, a Geneva, Switzerland based company which, alongside other firms like Bureau Veritas, Intertek, TÜV, Germanischer Lloyd (DNV GL), AS International and Cotecna, is involved in the inspection and verification of the quantity, weight and quality of traded goods.

The Davao City Mayor, who recently issued a statement castigating the BOC for prying into the boxes of presents and goodies sent by Filipino foreign workers to their families back home, said that the Customs Bureau and the BIR have become bloated government agencies which could no longer totally supervise and control the actions of its officials and employees.

Privatising the Customs Bureau would eliminate political interference in its operations and free it from the image of being a “fund-raising” agency for the political party in power during election seasons, he said.

“Look at the BIR. Even if Kim (Henares, the BIR Commissioner) is an outstanding and honest government official, the system of tax collection opens windows of opportunities for corruption,” Duterte said.

“Look at GSIS. Government workers put their money there for their future but when they apply for a loan to build their homes and for other needs, they literally have to beg and wait for the release of their own money,’ he said.

“If I were President, those earning P25,000 and below should be exempt from income taxes and the computation of payable taxes should be based on a computerised formula. Let’s put an end to the system where the tax collectors haggle with the tax payers on the amount due government. That is where corruption comes in,” Duterte said.

Privatizing Customs, the BIR and GSIS would provide greater transparency, accountability and efficiency, Duterte said.

“Targets and standards should be set for firms involved in the operations of Customs, tax collection and government insurance. If they don’t meet the target, they won’t make money,” he said.

Duterte said a Constitutional amendment would pave the way for the government overhaul that he envisions to make it more responsive to the needs of the Filipino people.