‘Ban’ on use of cellphones at Customs, decried

ANOTHER rift is developing between Bureau of Customs (BOC) commissioner, Rey Leonardo Guerrero and the bureau’s employees and other stakeholders over his order “banning” the use of cellular phones and other electronic gadgets in areas classified as “secure spaces” by his office.

Under Memorandum Order 33-2021 dated February 22, 2021, addressed to all customs officials, employees and “all others concerned,” the customs chief declared that henceforth, the use of “mobile devices that transmit, store or record data” are prohibited to be used within the bureau’s “secure spaces.”

These include any of the bureau’s “conference rooms, assessment and liquidation floors and work stations.”

These areas, particularly Assessment, are the most busy areas in the bureau due to the volume of their transactions with the public.

It is not clear what actually prompted Guerrero to issue the directive although the reasons stated therein indicate that his administration has become concerned with “information leaks.”

The order averred the ban is to “ensure the integrity and security of any data, reports or information stored or kept inside premises identified as sensitive areas.”

Guerrero also expressed apprehension over matters “discussed, exchanged and presented during meetings, deliberations or conferences inside said premises (sensitive/secure spaces) and prevent any unauthorized access, copying or disclosure” thru such devices.

Rommel Francisco, president of the militant Bureau of Customs Employees Association (Bocea), told Pinoy Exposé that they are definitely going to question Guerrero’s order and was already preparing their own letter address to their commissioner.

“Susulat palang kami sa kanya.

“Exhaustion of administrative remedies muna kami bago kami dumulog sa DOF at CSC.

“Kung kailangan ay pati sa Committee ng Congress,” Francisco said in a message to this paper.

A draft of the Bocea letter forwarded to Pinoy Exposé however indicate that the customs union would challenge Guerrero if there was already any incident of ‘data breach’ that prompted the order.

The union would also aver that Guerrero’s order would infringe on their civil rights, cellphones being their “personal properties.”

Other customs officials who declined to be named because they are not allowed to speak on the matter, also derided Guerrero’s order as “another ‘harebrained idea’ of the ‘bright boys’” around their boss, most of them retired military officials like him.

The customs officials also averred that the order would be “hard to implement” and would also breed discontent, predicting its application would be “selective” among customs officials and employees leading to accusations of “favoritism” and “discrimination.”

“Ang iisipin pa d’yan may ‘itinatago’ sina commissioner kaya ‘napa-praning’ (getting paranoid),” they added.

The sources also said the directive did not take into consideration “emergency calls” by immediate family members to officials and employees of the bureau.

“Paano kung ‘emergency’ at kailangan malaman agad ng empleyado, halimbawa may insidente o aksidente sa kanilang pamilya o mahal sa buhay?

“Malalaman lang nila kapag huli na ang lahat, ganun ba ‘yun,” they explained further.

On implementation, Guerrero said all mobile devices should be turned off before they are deposited by customs personnel at “daily use storage cabinets” to be located outside their work areas.

Guerrero also wants all the designated secure areas to be marked as, ‘Restricted Areas – No Mobile Phones.’