BoC employees expose travel authority, promotion extortion racket

The rank and file of the Bureau of Customs (BoC) sent a letter to Commissioner Bienvenido Rubio reporting an official extorting money from employees whenever they apply for travel authority to travel abroad.

It is necessary for a government employee to secure a travel authority whenever they travel abroad for a seminar, schooling, or a vacation.

The employees asked Rubio to fire an official of the Internal Administration Group (IAG) who had been asking for payment in exchange for the issuance of a simple travel authority, which should have been issued for free.

The official demands P20,000 from employees who would be traveling, whether for personal or official purposes.

In the letter, which they copy-furnished to the House of Representatives and the Department of Finance, they also complained about the extortion activities of the said official on those seeking promotion.

For instance, if a Customs security officer wants to be promoted to Special Agent 1, the applicant would have to give grease money ranging between P200,000 and P500,000 to the said official.

An amount ranging between P500,000 and P1 million would have to be given to the IAG official in order to be promoted to the position of Assistant Customs Operations Officer 1.

A hefty sum of P3 million would have to be paid for the positions of Customs Operations Officer 2 and Customs Operations Officer 3.

The BoC employee pays P5 million as the price for the position of Customs Operations Officer 5.

The official even demands a fee for a change in assignment location.