In a news conference held Thursday (April 23), Sevilla said he tendered his resignation to President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III on Wednesday (April 22), which will be effective as soon as the president appoints his successor.
At the briefing, Sevilla expressed dismay at the political meddling from the outside in the affairs of the bureau.
He said the job had become all the more difficult given a “political atmosphere” brought by the onset of next year’s elections
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“Magmula noong umpisa ko dito, talagang ginawa ko ang lahat ng gawa ko para hindi maging factor ang pulitika sa palakad dito sa Customs,” he said.
“Nitong mga huling buwan, pahirap na pahirap na iyon. Nitong mga darating na buwan, baka maging imposible na iyon. Di niyan ibig sabihin na magpi-fail ang reforms sa Customs. Ang dami nakisawsaw na hindi dapat nakisawsaw sa Customs.”
[Translation: “Since I started, I really did everything so that politics wouldn’t be factor in the operations of Customs. This past month, it became harder and harder. These coming months, it might become impossible to avoid. That doesn’t that reforms in Customs would fail. So many meddled in Customs who shouldn’t have meddled.]
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“Ilang beses din ako [sinabihan] ng mga kaibigan ko, ng mga kasamahan ko dito: ‘Ba’t di mo nalang pagtiyagaan? Ba’t di mo nalang bantayan? Gawin mo na lang ng paraan para magkaroon ng damage control’,” he said.
[Translation: “So many times my friends and colleagues told: ‘Why don’t you just to be patient? Why don’t you just look over things? Just do everything you can so that there would be damage control’.”]
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No compromising
The commissioner admitted that he did think long about such suggestions, but he cited two reasons for his decisions:
He could only do so much to administer and watch over what he earlier said was a bureau that was increasingly becoming political.
Customs employees, particularly reformers, shouldn’t have to put up with political compromises.
“Ba’t kailangan tanggapin ng mga empleyado sa Customs, ng mga reformers sa Customs… yung consequences ng mga political compromises? Ang hirap-hirap na ng trabaho dito.”
[Translation: “Why should Customs employees and reformers accept the consequences of political compromises? The work here is hard enough.”]
He cited the bureau’s reputation as one of the government’s most corrupt agencies, saying: “Dahil malaking problema par rin ang corruption, dapat ang laban sa kurapsyon walang compromise.”
“Yung mga bagay na in the outside world parang unimaginable… ang sama niya, any pangit niya, eh dito normal eh. Kung hindi ka iingat dito, parang aanayin any budhi mo dito.”
[Translation: Because corruption is still a big problem, the fight against corruption should be done without compromise. Things that in the outside world are unimaginable, because they’re wrong and ugly, are normal here. If you’re not careful here, your conscience will rot.”]
He enumerated a few suspected crimes: “Bribery, corruption, threats.”
Constant consideration
He admitted that resignation was something he has thought about since his first day in office
“I’ve been contemplating resignation since my very first day in customs,” he said. “Walang araw na hindi ko pong isipan.”
[Translation: “There wasn’t a day when I didn’t think about it.”]
Sevilla noted that he regrets leaving the bureau without finishing his reforms and for not improving the accountability of the agency’s employees.
Nevertheless, he says that it was an honor to work in public service.
“Working for the government, working for the people of the Philippines — iyan ay ang pinakamalaking karangalan sa buhay ko,” he said.
He believes that the success of reforms will largely depend on his successor.
“Pwede pa rin mag-succeed ang reforms sa Customs pero kinakailangan ang mamuno dito sa Customs ay may skill set at kakayahan na mag-navigate, namamuno sa isang political environment na mas political na kaysa sa dati habang tinutulak pa rin ang reporma na kailangan sa bureau,” he said.
“Kailangan may political skills ang susunod na commissioner ng customs. Wala po akong poilitical skills.”
Most improved agency
For his part, Presidential Communications Secretary Herminio “Sonny” Coloma Jr. thanked Sevilla for the reforms instituted in the BoC.
He said: “The numbers do not lie: As head of the Customs Reform Team, he has helped grow the bureau’s collections by 21% year on year in 2014 versus 5% in the prereform period, transformed Customs to be one of the most radically open and transparent agencies in government, has 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,” Coloma added.
