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CCO – what stands now for the Clark Customs Office had – in the distant American past and, yes in the early eco-zone present – meant Customs-Cowboy Operations. In reference to the storied collusion between certain customsmen and smugglers called cowboys, later euphemized as “Ninjas.”
It was this CCO that birthed the PX trade in Dau and Nepo Mart, once the principal income-earner in the Metro Clark areas. It was this CCO that flooded the local market with Ma-Ling.
I don’t know if it has anything to do with its spanking new office but a whiff of fresh air permeates the current CCO. For one, the cloak and dagger subterfuge of its operations is gone. There is transparency thereabouts.
The transfer of the Customs Clearance Area from Cargohaus to the Clark Customshouse impacted with computerization and the improvement of documentation procedures did wonders in cutting bureaucratic red tape with a one-stop shop for all transactions operating on 24/7. And like the Gordian Knot, wherever and whenever red tape is cut, efficiency and productivity ensue. For the CCO, this translated to a revenue collection of some P541 million in 2005, as against some P438 in 2004. A cool P100-M difference.
The collection in the first five months of 2006 point to an even improved net collection.
The improvement of Customs services also obtained at the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport. A customs mobile scanning unit is now in place there and manpower complement has been upgraded to cope with the increased number of flights.
How about the scourge for which the CCO earned its infamy in the past in – smuggling?
The diminished reports of smuggling attempts – one clear sign of collusion in the past – is now a definitive reflection of the no-nonsense campaign of the CCO. Again, the collection figures bear this out.
A foolproof indicator though of any illegal activity obtaining at the CCO is the number of customsmen frequenting pricey nightspots and spending like there’s no tomorrow for the devalued peso. There aren’t any, so we heard from Tony Mamac and company.
Still, the greatest standard against which the performance of the CCO is measured is in its relationship with its principal clients – the investors and locators at the Clark special economic zone.
Here the CCO, specifically its top honcho, District Collector Ronnie C. Silvestre, scored no less.
“For exemplary services to the Clark Special Economic Zone,” Silvestre was bestowed the President’s Award by the Clark Investors and Locators Association last January 31, 2006.
There is something about Silvestre that spells success, some sort of a touch of Midas.In his previous assignment, at the Port of Manila, collections exceeded targets by P324 million in January-May 2005, and recorded the biggest surplus in its history in 2004 with a whopping P2.588 billion!
In his earlier assignment at the FTI Customs Office, collections exceeded targets by P6.135 million from July-December 2002 and recorded a surplus of P13.87 million in 2003.
With Silvestre’s exemplary performance wherever he’s been assigned, we are most certain that the Clark special ecozone and the DMIA are in good hands.
(Pampanga News, June 22-28, 2006)