Reassignment of 76 customs Intelligence officers to start on Monday, June 16

MANILA — The 76 intelligence officers (IOs) of the Bureau of Customs-Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service (BOC-CIIS) are set to report to their new assignments on Monday, June 16.

This is part of the movement of BOC-CIIS personnel as ordered by IG Deputy Commissioner Jesse Dellosa.

The reshuffle of the 76 IOs is the first batch of the BOC-CIIS reorganization totaling to 142. The remaining 66 have been divided to 35 and 31, second and third batches, respectively.

The BOC-CIIS said that the posting of additional personnel to the out ports and private ports is to monitor attempts of smugglers to use these ports as gateways for their illegal goods.

Dellosa implemented the movement of personnel as some of the IOs have been in their current ports for quite sometime and he wanted them to learn and be familiar with the different operating environments such as ports with big traffic, airports, and ports that entertain different commodities such as bulk and containerized.

The IOs would also be undergoing training or a refresher course to update them on Customs polices and the responsibilities.

The IG chief has been planning the reshuffle since September, the time he joined the BOC last year.

The bureau has issued over 1,000 Alert Orders on various types of shipments nationwide since the last quarter of 2013, about 80 percent of which were found to have been misdeclared, had discrepancies in weight or volume or were found to be liable for additional duties and taxes.

It resulted in higher amounts of seizures of prohibited and restricted imports with over P5.7-Billion in counterfeit goods seized from January to March 2014.