BBM wants ‘fresh faces’ at Customs

THE much-anticipated ‘changing of the guards’ at the Bureau of Customs finally arrived with the appointment last July 20, 2022 by Pres. Bongbong Marcos Jr., of Enforcement and Security Service (ESS) director Yogi Filemon Ruiz as customs commissioner, in place of Comm. Rey Leonardo Guerrero.

Guerrero has served as BOC commissioner since October 2018, the third to be appointed by President Rodrigo Duterte.

Several pictures sent to this writer showed the President shaking hands with Ruiz after administering to him his oath of office in Malacañan. The photos also include Ruiz’s signed oath of office.
A reliable source privy to Ruiz’s discussion with the President but declined to be named for lack of authority, said Ruiz is being given a “free hand” to run the bureau as he sees fit.

Along this line, Ruiz was also instructed to remove “all presidential appointees” from their current posts, referring to all the appointees of President Duterte.

“The President wants fresh faces at the BOC,” the source said.

The policy directive would mean that Ruiz would be given a free hand to recommend or replace the BOC’s 6 deputy commissioners, service directors and district collectors—except for the Port of Manila (POM), Manila International Container Port (MICP) and the Port of Subic, three of the biggest revenue earners for the agency.

The source said Pres. Marcos Jr., wants to appoint the district collectors of these ports so they would be directly responsible to him for their performance.

The rise of Ruiz to the top customs post came barely 5 years after he was brought into the agency as ESS (Customs Police) director by Comm. Isidro Lapeña in 2017. Lapeña was the predecessor of Guerrero and was the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) director general before his appointment.

Prior to his entry into the BOC, Ruiz, a PDEA Academy graduate with a Master’s Degree in Public Administration at the University of the Visayas in Cebu City, has extensive deployment as PDEA director in several regions of the country and has specialized training against illegal drugs in China and the United States.

Veteran customs lawyer, Atty. Ma. Lourdes Mangaoang, who is also a book author on customs matters, has been reportedly tapped by Ruiz to be his Chief of Staff.

New DCI raises eyebrows

But while Ruiz has been given much leeway in the re-assignment of personnel and appointment of new faces at the BOC, his hands have already been tied with regards to one of the most sensitive and powerful posts, the Intelligence Group (IG).

On the same day that Ruiz was appointed, Executive Secretary Vic Rodriguez also signed the appointment of Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) captain, Jimmy Oliver Vingno, as the new Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence (DCI), replacing Raniel Ramiro, a retired Philippine Army general and classmate of Guerrero at the Philippine Military Academy.

An old news report by the Philippine Star bared that Vingno, a member of Class 2004, was ‘dishonorably discharged’ from the academy after he and seven other cadets were accused of “cheating” during an examination.

Active members of the Philippine military and graduates of the PMA contacted by this writer confirmed that Vingno was kicked out over the incident and then decided to try his luck with the PCG where he got accepted.

Prior to his appointment to the second most powerful position at the BOC, Vingno is the head of the PCG contingent at the BOC.

Guerrero had signed several agreements with other law enforcement agencies, including the PCG, for their personnel to be deployed at the waterfront as part of his thrust to promote transparency and accountability in the agency’s anti-smuggling operations.

Aside from being head of the PCG contingent but not being familiar with intelligence matters, Vingno would only have some 3 years in exposure at the BOC prior to his appointment.