Trouble at Customs
| C.R.O.S.S.R.O.A.D.S |
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| Jonathan De la Cruz |
Calling Customs Commissioner Lito Alvarez and his boss, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima. Sirs, are we expecting a solution to the current impasse between personnel of the Bureau of Customs at the NAIA and the Board of Airline Representatives (BoAR) anytime soon? I certainly hope so. Otherwise, all the talk about increasing tourist arrivals and inviting more investors into the country, among others, will simply be that — talk. For how can we claim that things are on the up and up and the Philippines is now “ready for business” when delays and long lines of disgruntled passengers are the daily fare at the NAIA, the country’s premier airport, ever since Customs personnel refused to render overtime work after the Court of Appeals upheld an earlier RTC ruling that the airlines need not pay for that service anymore. Apparently, the Customs bureau does not have any funding for this overtime work which, in the words of Tourism Secretary Bertie Lim, should be a 24/7 job considering the times allocated for the use of the already congested NAIA complex.
We note that since 1974, BoAR members have been paying for the overtime work done by Customs in accordance with the Tariff and Customs Code mandating all international airlines using the then Manila International Airport to shoulder overtime pay and other allowances of these personnel. I understand the practice has been extended to other personnel such as immigration officers as well. That pay was pegged to the US dollar and has been adjusted a number of times as a result. When the last increase ordered by then Finance Secretary Gary Teves in 2008 was about to be implemented the BoAR members comprised of all the international airlines using the NAIA complex balked and brought this case to court. Since then, Customs personnel have been on a kind of boycott mode which has now blossomed into almost a full blown one requiring the intervention of the highest finance officials..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101031com5.html
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