Next BOC Chief has ‘Big Shoes to Fill in’ – Purisima

Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima is all praises to resigned Customs Commissioner John Phillip Sevilla even as he said that his replacement will have to really work.

In a statement, Purisima said he is “confident that the foundations Sevilla has built will allow a clear path of reform for whoever his appointed successor is.”

”Commissioner Sevilla has set the bar extremely high: his successor will have big shoes to fill,” he said. Sevilla announced his resignation Thursday morning.

The Finance chief said the BoC was able to post a double digit year-on-year growth of 21 percent in 2014, way better than the five percent growth in the previous year under then BoC Commissioner Ruffy Biazon.

BOC posted its highest year-on-year collection growth in 2014 collection hit Php 369.3 billion from year-ago’s Php 304.9 billion due to reforms initiated by Sevilla.

Purisima said it was during Sevilla’s one-and-a-half year stint that the agency became “one of the most radically open and transparent agencies in government.

He said it was Sevilla who made “government regulation more efficient for doing business in the country, and has taken great strides to thwart graft, technical and outright smuggling by filing cases, alert orders and seizures against erring importers, brokers, and officials.”

”The Bureau of Customs is the most improved national government agency in terms of revenue collection last year, thanks in no small part to the person who led it,” he said.

The Finance chief said it was Sevilla who “has shown us that what was then impossible is now possible. It is possible to hope that we can transform institutions, with uncompromising courage and integrity.”

Sevilla served the Department of Finance (DOF) for six years as Undersecretary for Privatization under former Secretary Margarito Teves, and Purisima.

Purisima, however, pointed out that, “I think unleashing transformative reform in the Bureau of Customs will remain to be one of the pinnacles of his legacy in government.”

”There is always a time when one has to rest and take leave: today is one such day for a fine public servant who has waged the good fight against corruption well,” he added.

Relatively, Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said they have received the information about Sevilla’s announcement through Purisima.

”In behalf of the President, Secretary Cesar Purisima thanked Commissioner Sevilla for his exemplary leadership in implementing reforms in the Bureau of Customs and for his dedicated service to the nation,” he said.

”Consistent with the President’s mandate, the government is determined to pursue the reforms at the BOC and bring these to full fruition,” he added. (PNA) FPV/JS/EBP