For some time now, we've been getting reports of discontent within the Customs Department. And, it's all about money - how much more government is getting, and how much less the officers are getting because of a drastic cutback in overtime.
The sharp increase in revenue to government is thanks to the full implementation of a new computerized system of revenue collection called Asycuda (Asi-Cuda) World. Customs administrators say that not only does it bring in more revenue for government, it also reduces the number of man hours needed to run the revenue collection process. They say that lessens the need for overtime - which is fine and well on paper, but for years, the significant extra earnings from overtime have made up a significant portion of an officer's salary.
So, cutting overtime is like cutting their pay and our information says that they are not happy about it - and already junior officers have been calling in sick to their stations. Today, we got an opportunity to speak with the new acting Comptroller of Customs, Emil Grinage, who granted his first interview since taking over the office in November of last year. He told us that while there is the overtime implication, his responsibility is to improve efficiency and cut back on unnecessary expenses to the Government:
Emil Grinage, Acting Comptroller of Customs
"We had Asycuda 2.74. It's a computer application and now we have Asycuda World which rolled out in 2008. It enables us to risk profile, it enable us to do post audit and remove a lot of the human intervention using risk factors are so on."
Daniel Ortiz
"So is this for the Customs Department the Asycuda World. Is it something that you've put on mainstream this year?"
Emil Grinage, Acting Comptroller of Customs
"No, that's since 2008. It's just an updated application from Asycuda 2.7 that we had for 4 years ago."
Daniel Ortiz
"We understand that while this system is improving the revenue collection, because it removes the human intervention aspect, there is less need for overtime. Is that a correlation that you can make? That because you have less human intervention on the system you don't need that many human hours put in. Is that correct?"
Emil Grinage, Acting Comptroller of Customs
"Yes, it should curtail overtime. But remember also that when you remove the human intervention, it helps you too to do risk profiling, it helps you to do the post audit, after the fact because now we could release containers that have gone green and still if we decide of we want to check the warehouses then we have more hands to deal with that."
Daniel Ortiz
"We understand that there may be employees of the Customs Department who are not particularly pleased about the fact that they will be earning less revenue due to the decrease in overtime which we understand it makes up 40%-60% of their income."
Emil Grinage
"We have to be efficient and effective and if there is no need for overtime, then we shouldn't have overtime. We shouldn't just stretch it to say overtime. Remember the salaries are from public funds and we have to control how we spend it and I don't know where you got that stats from with 40%-60% of our officer's salary, but I am not aware of that being so high."
Daniel Ortiz
"Let say for example, that figure is grossly exaggerated, what about those officers who enjoy that benefit, that it's a nice..."
Emil Grinage
"Most of the officers in Customs they acquire overtime because they need to work the overtime and Asycuda or any application comes along that assists the government for controlling its expenditure, its best we utilize it as best as possible. Remember they had their salaries and we need to know how to live within our limits. That is not to say that there isn't any overtime to be gained while doing work at Customs, but the fact of the matter is that overtime shouldn't be first thing in mind. If we could regulate the department is such a way that expenditure is minimize but yet the work gets done and employees are happy, we would do our best. But we have to understand that there comes a time when the overtime will shrink, because of the modernization of Customs and that's what happening. The department is modernizing."
Grinage explained to us that the way the system works is that it provides profiles of large importers based on their history, where the goods come from, the values reported, the descriptions, and the types and sizes of the products. If an importer has a good history the system gives them a green status; If an importer has been designated a yellow status, it means that there may have been minor infractions, and once the system gives an importer a red status, their containers will always be thoroughly searched, and their documentation will be questioned.
Figures we've seen show that for the first four months of 2015, customs revenue has increased by over 50 million dollars compared to 2014.
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