Customs Commissioner Angelito Alvarez has ordered the abolition of the Customs Accreditation Secretariat (CAS) which was the unit behind the accreditation of importers and brokers. Alvarez gave the order after he received complaints from established importers groups and brokers that two out of 10 accredited importers and brokers by CAS are allegedly fly-by-night companies that are being merely used as fronts by smugglers. The shake-up, Alvarez said, "is meant to rid the BoC of its perennial faults, defects, and witnesses." In Customs Memorandum Order No. 30-2010, Alvarez replaced CAS with the Interim Customs Accreditation and Registration (ICARE) whose "main tasks are to purge bogus companies from the master list of accredited importers and brokers." ICARE is also mandated to "ensure that the new registrants satisfy the fundamental requirements for accreditation." Alvarez's move was prompted by the complaints raised by the Chamber of Customs Broker, Inc., Port Users Confederation, Bonds Warehouse Operators in Cebu, Philexport, and the Philippine Chamber of Commerce, Inc. Based on reports, Alvarez said that about 20 percent of the more than 9,000 importers and brokers given accreditation by the defunct CAS were bogus entities used as fronts by big-time financiers for smuggling operations. This means that around 1,600 importers and brokers will be set up for purging by ICARE.
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