Privatization vs corruption: What readers say

Some weeks back, I wrote about privatization as a possible solution to our corruption woes. It elicited mixed reactions from readers, with some suggesting measures as extreme as abolishing some agencies altogether.

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One businessman from one of the country's biggest conglomerates, for instance, favors privatization but said some government functions are no longer needed.

His idea, for instance, is to remove the tariffs on all goods entering the country and, in doing so, there would no longer be a need for the Bureau of Customs.

This is taking a page from Hong Kong, which is famed for its free-port status.

A free port, according to an article published by SCMP, is a designated geographical area, usually encompassing a port and its surrounding land, where goods can be landed, handled, manufactured and re-exported without being subject to tariffs and with minimal customs intervention.

The idea of minimal customs intervention here in the Philippines may sound appealing, especially to our local businesses which have had to deal with the Bureau of Customs for their import requirements, and have their own horror stories about it.

But there are consequences in removing tariffs, especially on our local industries.

What is possible instead is to privatize some of the functions of the BOC.

Although, as it is now, BOC Commissioner Ariel Nepomuceno, as we've been seeing so far, is doing what he can to make BOC processes better. I hope he succeeds.

Hong Kong, for its part, follows a free-trade policy and hence maintains basically no barriers on trade. There is no customs tariff on goods imported into - or exported from the city. Import and export licensing is kept to a minimum.