Seven employees of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) were relieved during the 100 days of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s administration, a Customs official said on Friday.

During the "Laging Handa" public briefing, Arnaldo dela Torre, Jr., BOC chief of operations and spokesman noted that as part of the agency's campaign against corruption within the administration, the agency has filed eight show-cause orders, one administrative case and conducted a total of 132 investigations.

"Because of thi,s we have suspended one of our personnel while three others were reprimanded, 74 employees were reshuffled and seven others were relieved," he said.

Torre said the BOC also implemented 128 letters of authority which resulted in the seizure of P5.3 billion worth of smuggled goods from July to September.

This is one of the accomplishments of the bureau is the implementation of the 128 letters of authority.

"Under the same timeline, for the filing of criminal complaints against erring importers, we have filed 26 complaints against Customs brokers before the DOJ, and the total dutiable value of this is amounting to P175 million and we also have five administrative complaints Philippine Regulation Commission," he said.

Torre said the BOC was able to reach the revenue collection target as of September and expressed optimism that it can achieve the P721 billion target by the end of the year.

" The Bureau of Customs believes that the target imposed by the national government for 2022, it is P721 billion as of September we have collected P638 billion, so the remaining collection for the coming months, we will be able to attain our 2022 collection target," he said. Robina Asido/DMS