BROKERS' INDUCTION. Bureau of Customs-Port of Cebu acting district collector Charlito Martin Mendoza (left) administers the oath of the new board of directors and officers of the Chamber of Customs Brokers Inc.-Cebu, headed by its president Ronald Grancho at the Bai Hotel in Mandaue City, Cebu on Monday night (June 14, 2021). Mendoza urged the customs brokers to work for reduced cost of importation as a current trend in trade facilitation and maximizing duties and taxes collection from imports. (Contributed photo)
CEBU CITY – The chief of the Bureau of Customs–Port of Cebu has urged customs brokers here to work for a reduced cost in doing business to keep abreast with the current thrust in facilitating trade and maximizing revenues from imports.
Lawyer Charlito Martin Mendoza, BOC-Cebu acting district collector, told the members of the Chamber of Customs Brokers Inc. (CCBI)-Cebu that both the bureau and the brokers are working for the same goal: to release the shipment of importers.
“Revenues must be assessed and paid correctly if we government is to respond to this crisis with efficiency. So that “hinabang” (aid) can be given, vaccines can be procured, our medical front-liners can be given their due salaries and hazard pay, so that our citizens can survive, and return to their jobs in a reopened economy,” Mendoza said in a statement Tuesday.
Mendoza administered the oath to the officers, led by its president, Ronald Grancho, in a ceremony at the Bai Hotel in Mandaue City on Monday night.
He said by “ensuring compliance to our Customs regulations, you as brokers ensure that your clients are reducing cost by avoiding delays, penalties and persecution, and at the same time contributing to the pandemic response of the government.”
Mendoza urged the members of the CCBI-Cebu to keep themselves abreast with the updates in taxation, customs rules, orders, and procedures to help importers comply with the rules.
Grancho said he will ensure fair play in the customs brokering practice, pledging the chamber’s proactive partnership with the customs bureau and other stakeholders.
“I want every incumbent officer of CCBI-Cebu to have a clear understanding that the primary purpose of leading the organization is to serve and nothing else. Make your other motives only secondary to service,” Grancho said in his speech.
He also vowed to make his administration an active partner of the Port of Cebu and the Subport of Mactan in efforts for good governance. (PNA)
