This is Our Story (Part 1)

(In connection with the X-ray Inspection Project (XIP) 3^rd Founding Anniversary Celebration on May 31-June 4, 2010, the following is the historical development of XIP based on the personal account of POM X-ray Field Officer Renato D. Palgan)

A. Task Force X-ray

              The historical roots of the X-ray Inspection Project could be traced to the creation of an elite unit called the Task Force X-ray which was organized after Commissioner Guillermo Parayno had accepted a donation of a mobile x-ray van for cargo inspection from the Societe Generale de Surveilance Philippines, Inc. (SGS) to the Bureau of Customs in May 1993. The donated mobile x-ray scanner for baggage and loose cargoes was supplied by the EG & G Incorporated, a U.S. based company involved in the manufacturing of x-ray technology.

             To effectively use the newly-acquired equipment at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), Commissioner Guillermo Parayno organized the Task Force into two teams, namely: Team Alpha and Team Bravo. Both teams were composed mostly of officers and personnel coming from the Enforcement and Security Service (ESS), Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service (CIIS), and the Assessment Division, who were all rendering part-time duties in the Task Force, in addition to their respective regular work assignments at the NAIA Collection District.

             As an ad hoc unit under the direct supervision of the Commissioner of Customs, the Task Force hopes to accomplish the following objectives:

1.      To facilitate the clearance of baggage of arriving passengers, especially those coming from high risk countries;

2.      To detect the entry of guns, drugs, and other anti-social goods; and

3.      To enhance the collection efforts by proper identification of cargoes containing dutiable and taxable items.

            Several months after its creation, the Task Force made significant accomplishments in apprehending prohibited and regulated cargoes. Some of its widely publicized apprehensions in the national media included the discovery of eight kilos of heroin inside the baggage of a certain Suchinda Leangsi on March 13, 1994, who was later on convicted for drug trafficking by the Pasig Regional Trial Court; seizure of  highly-dutiable, assorted jewelry from incoming passenger Cristina Yang on August 21, 1994; and the discovery of five kilos of heroin inside the baggage of a certain Ang Win, a Myanmar national, who was also convicted  for drug trafficking by the Pasig Regional Trial Court.

             Because of these remarkable performances by the Task Force and the effectiveness and efficiency shown by the equipment in detecting contraband items, Commissioner Parayno initiated a move to acquire more state-of-the-art equipment in cargo examination with a long term vision to institutionalize these equipment as part of the Bureau’s organizational and  operational set-up.  He succeeded in getting two more mobile x-ray scanners as a donation from the SGS and ordered five fixed x-ray scanners for baggage and loose cargoes from the Rapiscan Security Products, an American company specializing in x-ray systems, through a World Bank loan. Aside from the NAIA Collection District as a beneficiary,   these machines were also deployed at other major ports of entry in the country, like the Port of Manila, Manila International Container Port and the Port of Cebu. In light of these acquisitions, the foundation of the Customs Modernization Program in cargo examination had been established. Thus, on September 19, 1996, Commissioner Parayno issued Customs Memorandum Order No. 30-96 which calls for the creation of a Customs Scanning Career Service.

B. Special Study Team for the Creation of Customs Scanning Career Service

 To achieve its vision as mentioned in Customs Memorandum Order No. 30-96, it is therefore imperative for the Bureau of Customs to have more than enough well-trained personnel to handle its modern x-ray machines. It is also necessary that there must be plans and programs as well as support systems and infrastructures relative to the strategic environment and issues that a new organization may encounter in the future. Moreover, it has to address the interrelated imperatives that must be accomplished so that it can move from where the Task Force X-ray is right now into its desired future state as a new plantilla organization as a Scanning Service. These were the guiding principles that made Commissioner Parayno to form a Special Study Team in September 1996, composed mainly of representatives from the ESS, CIIS, Assessment Division, and Human Resources Management Division, to prepare a manual for the Customs Scanning Career Service. In January 1997, after several months of consultation and deliberation, the Study Team finished its task and submitted its findings to the customs top officials who were members of the Change Management Group. Among the numerous proposals included in the manual, the creation of a provisional unit to be known as Interim Scanning Unit was recommended to the commissioner while waiting for the approval of the creation of a Scanning Service from other authoritative government agencies. As a result of this recommendation, on February 13, 1997,  Commissioner Parayno issued Customs Memorandum Order No. 6-97, creating the Interim Scanning Unit.

C. The Interim Scanning Unit

As provided for under Customs Memorandum Order No. 6-97, the Interim Scanning Unit was comprised of two components: the closed-circuit television cameras and the x-ray machines. Each component was headed by a project manager who reports directly to the commissioner while their respective personnel complement were a composite membership coming mostly from the ESS, CIIS, and the Assessment Division who had undergone specialized trainings in the use of the equipment.  With the issuance of Customs Memorandum Order 21-98, dated July 15, 1998, which enumerates its operational guidelines, the unit was placed under the Office of the Commissioner.

                 In October 1998, the two components of the Interim Scanning Unit were merged under the leadership of then Col. Jose N. Yuchongco and, from then on, it became popularly known as the Customs Scanning Unit, albeit in the absence of a formal Customs issuance creating the same

                All throughout its more than a decade of existence as an interim or provisional unit, with over five different customs officials leading the organization, the Scanning Unit had encountered some problems and setbacks which were never expected by its officers and members. In July 2004, for instance, the control and supervision of the unit became a focal point of controversy when Commissioner George Jereos issued Customs Memorandum Order No. 21-2004, transferring the Scanning Unit to the ESS, perhaps overlooking the fact that the unit is a composite membership from various divisions and services in the Bureau when it was created in 1997. Besides, there was an existing Presidential Memorandum on September 14, 1998 signed by President Joseph Estrada placing the Scanning Unit under the Deputy Commissioner for  Intelligence and Enforcement Group during the time of Commissioner Nelson Tan, who subsequently  issued Customs Memorandum Order No. 19-99, dated October 22, 1999, in compliance with the said Presidential Memorandum.

            Aside from the organizational quandary, some x-ray operatives, who were in the frontline manning the x-ray machines, were affected by the constant change of leadership and suffered the fate of returning back to their mother units and subsequently replaced with personnel who had no trainings on how to handle the equipment. It was then against this context that some x-ray operatives assigned at the Manila International Container Port and the Port of Manila decided to take the initiative to marshall all the trained and skilled x-ray operators all over the country into an organization with a common cause that would professionalize their ranks and not just a dumping ground of customs personnel who have influential connections with the customs top echelon. Thus, sometime in October 2002, the Bureau of Customs X-ray Operators Association (BOCXOA) was conceived and formed by ten brave souls who aspired for professionalism in the scanning unit and resolved to become a relevant force concerning x-ray operators welfare.

D. The Bureau of Customs X-ray Operators Association (BOCXOA)

            Shortly after the drafting of its Constitution of By-laws, the BOCXOA’s founding fathers registered the organization at Security and Exchange Commission, and later on, affiliated it under the umbrella organization of the Bureau of Customs Employees Association (BOCEA). All the BOCXOA’s founding members were organic members of the scanning unit and had undergone trainings in the use of x-ray machine. And the basis of its membership recruitment is solely on the training of an individual on how to operate the equipment.

            One of the defining moments of the organization happened when Col. Jose N. Yuchongco was relieved as head of the Scanning Unit in the early part of 2004.

Amidst the confusion and demoralization among the x-ray personnel over conflicting customs issuances and misunderstandings of some customs top officials, the leadership of the Bureau of Customs X-ray Operators Association decided to take the sentiments of its members by asking for a legal opinion before the Legal Service on September 13, 2004 on the validity of Customs Memorandum Order 21-2004 in relation to an existing Presidential Memorandum. As one of the top ranking officials of the association at that time, I could say with pride that the controversy was one of the momentous event of the association as it exercised its function as a moral guiding force when there was a seemingly break up of authority in the official chain of command due to leadership vacuum. Nevertheless, the issue was resolved by the commissioner according to the best interest and welfare of x-ray personnel who chose to be under the control and supervision of either the Office of the Commissioner or the Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence and Enforcement Group. Although there were several changes in the leadership of the unit as commissioner in the bureau comes and goes, the core of personnel had been set aside in the personnel reorganization because of their technical expertise to handle the machines, unlike in the previous re-organization when the association has never been set up.