BOC digitalization now 96.99% complete

The digitalization of the Bureau of Customs is now 96.99 percent complete, said a customs official on Saturday.

In a news forum, BOC Assistant Commissioner Vincent Philip Maronilla said 161 out of their 166 transactions can now be fully processed online. 

"Now, the few that are yet to be digitalized are those processes that need interlinkages with other government agencies. So, majority of them, we're still waiting for the other agencies to upgrade their respective digital systems so that the Bureau of Customs can integrate," Maronilla added. 

He said the digitalization project was primarily pushed to minimize face-to-face transactions to eliminate corruption within the bureau. 

"In digitalization, first and foremost, ang ina-address namin doon (what we are addressing) is the face-to-face transaction. Ang na-establish kasi namin dati (We have established that) a big portion of the…well, at least the opportunity to have transactions that tend to corrupt both parties come from the fact that our stakeholders can do transactions face-to-face with our employees – so, ni-remove namin iyon (we removed that)," he further explained. 

On the other hand, Maronilla said the BOC's cybersecurity remained intact despite the hackers' breaching attempts earlier this month. 

He said they set up a firewall that prevents employees from accessing any entertainment or social media applications while on duty. 

"We have also provided the employees the much-needed seminars and technical briefing on how to go about accessing their systems and what passwords, how to generate their passwords, and how to have those passwords secured," he added. 

For further security, the BOC gradually resets the employees' access codes in their work devices.