In the lion's den: Battling corruption at Customs

Over dinner recently, I had a chat with newly appointed Bureau of Customs chief Ariel Nepomuceno, who also happens to be a fellow Op-Ed columnist for The STAR.

- IRIS GONZALES

It wasn't a brief meeting. We spent hours talking about our country, the Marcos administration and, of course, the age-old problems hounding the notorious bureau—corruption and patronage politics.

I asked him how he intends to rid the agency of these problems which, as insiders know, are as old as time.

It's a question that is asked of every new BOC chief.

And, as is usually the case, a new Customs commissioner makes the boldest of promises to clean the bureau, only to end up devoured by the very same system he had vowed to fix.

I know this because I've covered the BOC during the administrations of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Noynoy Aquino.

At the time, I learned that almost every key employee in the BOC has a backer from the halls of power. These backers are usually lawmakers or government executives in high positions. These backers make it difficult for a Customs chief to get rid of employees even if they are non-performing or are found guilty of corruption. In exchange for being their padrinos, these lawmaker-backers get hefty favors from their wards—whether it's a load of smuggled and bootlegged goods they are trying to bring into the country or some legitimate imports they want to ship at lower prices.

I also learned during those years that you can actually corrupt your way up the BOC ladder by buying promotions or key positions.

Against this backdrop, I told Commissioner Nepomuceno I wasn't really sure whether I should congratulate him or offer my condolences, given the enormous task on his shoulders now.

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