THE DEPARTMENT of Transportation (DoTr) will give patrol boats to the Bureau of Customs (BoC) to strengthen security and anti-smuggling activities. The Department of Finance, to which the BoC is attached, said in a statement yesterday that it will form a joint technical working group with the DoTr to facilitate the transfer of the vessels composed of four 24-meter and one 82-meter boats. These boats were purchased through loans from European banking institutions under the Philippine Port and Coast Guard Capability Development Project (PCG Vessels Project). The 24-meter boats are expected to be delivered in 2018 while the 82-meter vessel is expected to arrive in Feb. 2019. The BoC earlier said that the smuggling of vehicles, oil and cigarettes into the country has cost the government more than P50 billion in lost revenues. A study done by the Washington DC-based research group Global Financial Integrity says that an estimated $90.25 billion worth of outflows were recorded from the Philippines from 2004 to 2013, or an average of $9.03 billion annually attributed to the illegal trade in goods or smuggling.

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