MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles, Manila Bureau) – Following a proposal by vice presidential candidate Francis Escudero to install closed-circuit television cameras (CCTVs) in transaction areas at the Philippines’ Bureau of Customs, members of the Bureau of Customs Employees Association (BOCEA) announced they will be staging a rally to protest the measure.
Earlier, BOCEA president Rommel Francisco went on national TV practically admitting that employees of the agency — regarded as the most corrupt in the Philippines — indeed accept bribes. He told GMA News: “Subukan kaya nilang itaas ‘yung sahod namin, ibigay sa amin ang tamang benepisyo? Sa tingin ba nila gagawa pa kami ng ganoon?” (Why don’t they try raising our salaries, and giving us the appropriate benefits? Do they think we would still do that?)
But in an interview with The Adobo Chronicles, Francisco clarified that his association is protesting the installation of CCTVs not because it violates the employees’ human rights, but because the employees want colored CCTVs — not black and white — installed in their work stations.
“It’s already 2016,” he said, “it’s about time we keep up with modern technology by using colored, high-definition CCTVs, and not the archaic black and white video recorders and monitors. We look terrible in black and white.”
The Philippines’ Bureau of Customs ( BOC ) has been under fire recently for its policy of checking contents of Balikbayan boxes for taxable items, earning the ire of Overseas Filipino Workers and their families over social media.
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