Today, the Interim Scanning Unit is best remembered as one of the longest transitory units in the customs history. It existed for more than a decade and was abolished only with the issuance of Customs Memorandum Order No. 5-2009 on February 4, 2009, long after the advent of the Non-Intrusive Container Inspection System Project of the Bureau of Customs (NCISP) in 2007.
E. The Non-Intrusive Container Inspection System Project (NCISP)
On January 30, 2002, Commissioner Titus Villanueva, with the approval of Finance Secretary Isidro Camacho, issued Customs Administrative Order No. 1-2002, which provides for the use of x-ray machine as an alternative to actual physical examination to speed up the examination of shipments and the movement of cargoes in the Bureau of Customs. As pointed out under the provisions of this customs issuance, the use of x-ray machine in cargo examination is meant to promote global competitiveness of the country by using modern technology in the examination of cargoes as well as to enhance the enforcement capabilities and collection efforts of the Bureau. Moreover, this order recognizes the need of containerized x-ray machine to handle the examination and lists down the system specifications of the equipment that the Bureau should acquire.
In May 2006, after almost four years since the issuance of Customs Administrative Order No. 1-2002, the Bureau of Customs, in coordination with the National Economic Development Authority and National Development Company, finally implemented this policy with the signing of a concessional loan agreement with the Peoples Republic of China, through a government to government transaction, to acquire ten x-ray scanners from Nuctech Company, the recommended supplier by the Chinese Government and one of the leading manufacturers of container x-ray scanner in the world, under its Non-Intrusive Container Inspection System Project (NCISP) and, on the following year, it acquired another twenty x-ray scanners as part of the Phase II of the Project.
Phase I involves the deployment of ten units of x-ray scanners in the major Customs collection districts, while Phase II engages the placement of additional x-ray scanners in major collection districts as well as in other ports not covered by Phase I of the Project. In all, there are thirty units of x-ray scanners the Bureau had acquired from Nuctech Company and they are distributed according to the volume of container cargo traffic of the port. These are the following recipient ports: Port of Manila, Manila International Container Port, Port of Subic, Port of Clark, Port of Batangas, Port of Cebu, Port of Davao, Port of Cagayan de Oro, Sub-Port of General Santos, Port of Zamboanga.
When President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed Executive Order No. 592 on December 15, 2006, which imposes the mandatory payment of Container Security Fee in the implementation of the NCSIP, the Bureau issued a memorandum creating an x-ray committee to carry out effectively the mandate of the Project.
F. The X-ray Scanning Commitee
In consonance with the issuance of an Executive Order, Commissioner Morales issued Customs Special Order No. 1-2007 on January 5, 2007, creating an X-ray Scanning Committee, to ensure the smooth operation of the newly-acquired x-ray equipment. The committee was composed of Atty. Julito Doria as chairman, Atty. Lisa Sebastian-Torres, Engr. Giovanni Imaysay and Capt. Jesus Francisco Gutierrez, as members. As a transitory body, the committee reported directly to the commissioner and supervised the deployment of x-ray scanners at various ports of entry.
On January 25, 2007, with the issuance of Customs Special Order No. 4-2007, establishing the interim guidelines in x-ray scanning operations, the work of the committee was divided into the following cluster group:
1. Profiling and Evaluation Sub-Committee. It was tasked to gather data and information from other offices relevant to scanning operation.
2. Operations and Maintenance Sub-Committee. It was tasked to handle the x-ray scanning inspection of shipments, including the security and safekeeping of x-ray equipment.
3. Logistics, Support and Administration Sub-Committee. Aside from overseeing the maintenance, procurement and repairs of x-ray scanners, it also served as the secretariat and legal arm of the Project.
When the X-ray Scanning Committee was organized, I was assigned by the committee to prepare a radiation safety manual of the Bureau of Customs which is a mandatory requirement by the Department of Health before the x-ray scanners can be issued a license to operate. However, it was not at all an easy task. As the designated Overall Radiation Safety Officer of the Bureau of Customs by the Department of Health, I was also in-charge of the processing of documents for the issuance of license to operate an x-ray facility in different ports where the Bureau planned to deploy x-ray scanner and, thus, required me to be present whenever the Department of Health personnel would conduct radiation dose test inside the x-ray facility. And my learning experiences as I performed my responsibility proved to be helpful as I wrote most of the provisions on the safety rules and regulations of what is now popularly known as the Customs Radiation Safety Manual.
G. The X-ray Inspection Project
After the provisional committee had been dissolved, Commissioner Napoleon Morales issued Customs Memorandum Order No. 6-2007 on March 28, 2007, which enumerates the operational guidelines in the conduct of x-ray inspection on containerized shipments and establishes the X-ray Inspection Project (XIP) as a specialized and technical unit that will oversee the administrative and operational control of all the x-ray scanning equipments of the Bureau of Customs, including the x-ray scanners for baggage and loose cargoes which were acquired during the administration of Commissioner Guillermo Parayno. Just like its forerunner units before its creation, the XIP has also been placed under the supervision of the Commissioner of Customs.
Based on the aforementioned memorandum, the following shipments may be subjected to x-ray inspection: alerted shipments, shipments that cannot be examined by using regular examination procedures, informal entry shipments, consolidation shipments before delivery to consignee’s warehouse, and export shipments.
However, the scope and coverage of shipments that may be x-rayed has widened in the succeeding years. On February 20, 2008, Commissioner Napoleon Morales signed yet another memorandum, directing the XIP to scan all PEZA-bound shipments before their release to their consignees located at the export processing zones or special economic zones and, on April 30, 2008, Atty. Ma. Lourdes Mangaoang, the Head of the XIP, issued a memorandum addressed to all collection districts in the country with available x-ray scanners in their jurisdictions that all containerized refrigerated shipment shall be subjected to x-ray inspection. And to put to an end to illegal exportation or “ghost exportation” as reported in the national media at the time, on July 11, 2008, Commissioner Morales also directed the XIP to scanned export shipments, especially those declared as scrap metals, minerals and ores, as emphasized on unnumbered memorandum dated September 4, 2008.
Another salient feature of Customs Memorandum Order No. 6-2007 is the provision on the creation of a separate X-ray Inspection Service in the future to institutionalize a professional workforce in the field of x-ray inspection. Thus, it revisits and gives importance to the provisions of Customs Memorandum Order No. 30-96 earlier issued in 1996, which calls for plantilla organization and positions for x-ray Inspectors. With the abolition of the Interim Scanning Unit and transferring its functions to the XIP on February 4, 2009 pursuant to Customs Memorandum Order No. 5-2009, the vision of establishing a separate service for x-ray personnel has become a certainty.
Under Atty. Mangaoang’s leadership, the XIP has a total of 30 x-ray scanners for container van shipments and twelve x-ray scanners for baggage and loose cargoes which are being manned by less than a hundred technically-trained officers and personnel who are assigned at different x-ray field offices nationwide.
In the late part of 2008, the BOCXOA suffered financial trouble as it tried to cope to maintain the financial expenditures of its regular publication, the Scanner. Aside from the financial needs of organizational operations, it had also assist its members who have personal financial problems. With this looming financial problem year after year since its establishment in 2002, the founding members of the organization who were assigned at the Port of Manila X-ray Field Office decided to establish a cooperative to make it a profit-oriented organization to make it fully financially independent.
H. The BOCXOA Multi-Purpose Cooperative
Although the foundation of BOCXOA Multi-Purpose Cooperative seemed to be a simplistic approach in answering their financial problems, the founders of the cooperative felt that with their initial business venture in photocopying they already withstand the birth pains just like any cooperative beginner has experienced. And as its financial funds had steadily grown, the cooperative started giving out financial loans to its members at negligible interest rates. With its sustainable livelihood programs to give better benefits to its members and to support a wide range of projects, the cooperative is well on its road to employess empowerment and wider involvement in customs community activities.
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