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I. Objectives

This Order is issued for the following purposes:

1.1     To protect the integrity of the Alert Order System;
1.2     To promote transparency and accountability in the execution of duties and responsibilities with regard to the issuance/lifting of Alert Orders;
1.3     To avoid  bureaucratic  red  tape  and  protect  legitimate  importers  against
unnecessary delay in the release of their lawful importations; and
1.4     To provide clear guidelines and procedures in the processing of shipments that is/are subject of an Alert Order.

II. Coverage

This Order shall apply to ALL shipments unloaded at all ports of entry under the jurisdiction of this Bureau.

III. General Provisions

3.1    An Alert Order is issued to enjoin all concerned customs personnel to be cautious and thorough in the examination of the alerted shipment and its accompanying  import documents  in order to verify derogatory information or suspected violation of the shipment.

3.2     The following Officers are hereby authorized to issue Alert Orders:

3.2.1      The Commissioner of Customs;
3.2.2      The Deputy Commissioner, Intelligence Group (IG);
3.2.3      The Deputy Commissioner, Enforcement Group (EG);
3.2.4   The  Deputy  Commissioner,  Assessment  and  Operations Coordinating Group (AOCG). On issues concerning rules of origin, valuation and classification of goods; and
3.2.5     All District Collectors, for shipments arriving within their District, including sub-ports within their District.

3.3     The  authority  to lift Alert  Orders  shall  only  be  exercised  by  the  District Collectors concerned, by authority of the Commissioner.  Provided further, the Commissioner  of Customs may lift, motu proprio, Alert Orders issued by other Alerting Officers.

3.4     Only  the  Office  of  the  Commissioner  can  issued  Alert  Orders  for  the following shipments:

3.4.1      Shipments under the Super Green Lane (SGL); and

3.4.2     Request   for  issuance   of  Alert  Order  from  other  government agencies.

The Alerting Officer/s who finds sufficient reason to issue an Alert Order against  shipment/s  under  SGL  or  upon  request  of  other  government agencies, shall make a recommendation  to the Commissioner of Customs for the issuance thereof.
 
3.5 Subject to the written approval of the Commissioner, the Deputy
Commissioners  of the Intelligence Group, Enforcement  Group and AOCG shall in their absence, authorize or delegate power to issue Alert Order to Service Directors under their respective groups, and the District Collector to any of his/her respective Deputy Collectors.

3.6     The Alerting  Officer shall be given unique  usernames  and passwords  to the e2m system. The Alerting Officers are strictly enjoined from using usernames and passwords other than those given names.

3.7     Shipments  can  only  be  held  through  a  validly  issued  Alert  Order.  Any request to hold in abeyance the entry processing of a shipment, by any official/employee, in any form is PROHIBITED. Any official, employee or person who aides in detaining a shipment in a manner not a compliant with this Order shall be subject to administrative and criminal actions.

3.8     MANUAL  Alert  Orders  may  only  be  issued  under  any  of  the  following instances:

3.8.1      The e2m Customs system is NOT accessible;
3.8.2      For unmanifested cargoes/shipment;
3.8.3      For entries processed under Informal Entry; and
3.8.4      For export cargoes.

3.9     No Alert Order shall be issued against shipments which have already been tagged in the On-Line  Release  System  (OLRS). The Alerting Office who finds reasonable grounds to hold a shipment already tagged in the OLRS, shall  make  a  recommendation   to  the  Office  of  the  Commissioner   for issuance of “Special Stop”.

3.10   For shipments arriving in the International  Airports, the House Airway Bill must be specified in the Alert Order.

3.11   Once an Alert Order is issued, the shipment or any part of it shall NOT be released until:

3.11.1   100% physical examination has been conducted; and

3.11.2   The Commissioner of Customs or the District Collector concerned by authority of the Commissioner has ordered its release, copy furnished the Alerting Officer.

3.12   A   shipment   or   any   part   thereof   already   alerted   and   examined   in accordance with this order shall NOT be subjected to another alert or examination. Only the Commissioner of Customs can have a shipment re- examined.

3.13   The Office of the Commissioner  shall have direct access to the e2m Alert
System for monitoring of all electronically issued Alert Orders.
 
IV. Procedure for Issuance of Alert Orders

4.1     In case of an Electronic Alert, the Alerting Officer shall first issue the Alert Order  in  the  e2m  Alert  System  with  the  accomplished  prescribed  Alert Order Form (Annex “A”) in quadruplicate copies.

4.2     In case of Manual Alert, the Alerting Office shall submit within twenty-four (24) hours from its issuance, the duly accomplished  quadruplicate  copies of the Alert Order Form (Annex “A”) to the Office of the Commissioner and shall send copies thru electronic mail at ocomstaff@yahoo.com or ocomstaff@gmail.com  and facsimile at (02) 527-1935.

V. Procedure for the Implementation of Alert Orders

5.1     The Alerting Office, shall within the same day of issuance  of Alert Order shall disseminate/distribute  the same thru personal service, electronic mail and facsimile, to the following:

5.1.1     The District Collector where the alerted shipment is located;
5.1.2     Customs Wharfinger;
5.1.3     Customs Gatekeeper;
5.1.4     Arrastre Operator or its equivalent; and
5.1.5     Consignee, broker or their authorized representative within twenty- four  (24)  hours  from  the  issuance  thereof.  In  case  personal service, electronic mail and facsimile of the Alert Order cannot be made to the consignee, broker or their authorized representative, the corresponding Alert Order shall be posted at the port’s bulletin board or in any conspicuous place within the port of discharge for three (3) consecutive days. After the lapse of the three-day period and the consignee,  broker or their authorized  representative  fails to coordinate with the Alerting Office, the latter may cause examination of the alerted shipment, without the consignee, broker of their authorized representative.

5.2     The District Collector shall, within twenty-four (24) hours from receipt of the Alert  Order,  assign  a  Customs   Examiner,   who  shall  perform   of  the following functions:

5.2.1     Determine if the shipment has been released from Customs, or if the shipment has been transferred to another Customs Bonded Warehouse under Transfer Under Guard (for airports), or if the shipment  has  been  examined  prior  to the issuance  of the Alert Order;

5.2.2     If examination  has  already  has  been  conducted  or it has  been released from Customs or transferred to a Customs Bonded Warehouse, prior to the issuance of the Alert Order, copy of the Examination  Report and/or details and documents  showing proof of  the  release   shall  be  furnished   to  the  Alerting   Office,  for reference.

5.2.3     If no previous examination has been conducted, inform the District Collector   concerned,   the  Alerting   Office,   and  the  consignee, Broker or his authorized representative, of the date and time of the examination.

5.2.4     Conduct  a  100%  examination  of  the  alerted  shipment/s  within seven (7) days from the issuance of the Alert Order. Once commenced,  the  conduct  of  examination  must  be  done continuously, until the completion thereof.

5.2.5     Within twenty-four (24) hours from completion of the examination,
submit duly accomplished Alert Order Report Form (Annex “B”) to the District Collector, Alerting Office of the Office of the Commissioner.

5.3     The Alerting Officer shall designate a representative, who shall witness the conduct of 100% examination of the alerted shipment. Provided, that if the Alerting Officer is the District Collector, representatives  from the IG and/or EG shall be the witnesses thereof.

5.4    Physical examination of the alerted shipments shall be under the direct supervision  and  control  of  the  District  Collector  concerned.  In  case  an alerted shipment involves twenty-five (25) containers or more, the number of containers to be examined may be limited to thirty percent (30%) of the entire   number   of  containers,   at  the  option   of  the  District   Collector. However, if in the course of the examination of the selected containers, a violation is determined, then the entire shipment shall be subject to full examination at the expense of the consignee.

5.5     Examinations  of shipments  with Alert Orders  shall be given priority.  Any undue delay in the examination of shipments with Alert Orders shall be a ground  for  administrative   and/or  criminal  action  against  the  officer  or personnel causing the delay.

VI. Disposition of Alerted Shipments

6.1     The District  Collector  concerned  shall within twenty-four  (24) hours from receipt of Alert Order Report Form with corresponding findings from the Customs examiner, make a Final Disposition of the Alert Order.

6.1.1    If the  Final  Disposition  is “continuous  processing”  or “no discrepancy” in value, classification or description of goods, no violation of the TCCP, as amended and other pertinent Customs rules and regulations, the District Collector shall sign his approval in the Alert Order Form for Manual Alerts or tag as “Recommend for Lifting” in the e2m Alert System for Electronic Alerts.

6.1.2     If the Final Disposition is “payment of additional duties and taxes” or  “payment   surcharge”,   the  District   Collector   shall  sign  his approval in the Alert Order Form for Manual Alerts or tag as “Recommend for Payment” in the e2m Alert System for Electronic Alerts, upon payment of the amount due.

6.1.3     If the Final Disposition is to subject the entire shipment to seizure, the  District  Collector  shall  sign  his  approval  in  the  Alert  Order Form for Manual Alerts or tag as “Recommend for Seizure” in the e2m Alert System for Electronic Alerts.
 
6.1.4     If  the  Final  Disposition  is  for  partial  seizure  the  shipment,  the District Collector  shall sign his approval  in the Alert Order Form and issue the corresponding WSD for the items to be seized. After a WSD is issued for the items to be seized, the District Collector shall immediately cause the segregation of the shipment. Once segregation   is  completed,   the  District  Collector   shall  tag  the Alerted  Shipment  as  “Recommend  for  Lifting”  in  the  e2m  Alert System for Electronic Alerts, indicating therein the items to be released under the “Description of Contents”

6.2     In case of disapproval  by the District Collector of the recommendation  of the Customs Examiner, he shall refer the same for comment/further review to  the  Import  Assessment  Service  (IAS)  on  issues  concerning  rules  of origin,  valuation  and  classification  of  goods  or  issue  the  corresponding WSD, as the case maybe. If the Alerting Office is AOCG, the matter shall be referred to the Office of the Commissioner.

6.3     All  disposition  under  this  Section  shall  be  subject  to  the  provisions  of
General Provisions, Par. 3.23, hereof.

6.4     Any undue delay in the disposition of the Alert Orders shall be a ground for administrative   and/or  criminal  action  against  the  officer  or  personnel causing the delay.

VI. Reportial Requirement

A weekly Status Report on ALL Alert Orders issued by Alerting Officers shall be submitted  to  the  Office  of  the  Commissioner  following  the  attached  format  . (Annex “C”)

VII. Repealing Clause

The provisions of the following Customs Memorandum  Orders pertaining to the issuance and lifting of Alert Order are hereby repealed:

Customs Memorandum Order No. 92-91 dated 13 November 1991; Customs Memorandum Order No. 104-92 dated 11 September 1992; Customs Memorandum Order No. 8-93 dated 24 February 1993; Customs Memorandum Order No. 4-94 dated 03 February 1994; Customs Memorandum Order No. 21-2014 dated 08 November 2014; Customs Memorandum Order No. 24-2014 dated 04 November 2014.

VIII. EFFECTIVITY

This Order shall take effect immediately and remain valid unless revoked.