NEW Customs Commissioner Rozzano Ruffino Biazon says his image of an amiable individual is only a front, but that he can be tough with anyone who violates Customs laws and regulations. The former Muntinlupa representative to Congress, who was sworn into office last Friday by President Benigno S. Aquino, added that he would not allow even relatives and friends to compromise his office by asking hin for special treatment in their transactions with the Bureau of Customs, especially if such calls for taking shortcuts to expedite approval of such transactions.
Every body and his uncle knows that the Bureau of Customs (BOC) has been tainted for the longest time with graft and corruption, along with other government agencies that have become lucrative snake pits of illegal transactions that have diverted billions of pesos in potential income for the country into the pockets of crooks in cahoots with manipulators inside the Bureau.
Another problematic government agency is the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), also sometimes referred to disparagingly as the Bureau of Infernal Revenue, which is self-explanatory. In the news recently, was the the pronouncement made by Commissioner Kin Henares that the Bureau would continue going after tax-dodging professionals like high profile doctors and lawyers known to be earning millions of pesos yearly but are suspected of under-declaring their income. Not to mention the tax cheats among politicians who are just as notorious for under-declaring their campaign expenses to avoid running afoul of election laws and paying the correct taxes.
It may seem refreshing to hear how those charged with collecting money due the government like to harp on what they intend to do, or have done, along that line, only to end up mouthing empty promises that are just as quickly gone with the wind. It is easy to “talk the walk” we hear every so often from the mouths of those who run the BOC and the BIR. But “walking their talk” is another thing. Its more like jaywalking. We were not born yesterday.
