President names new Customs chief
Credit to Author: William B. Depasupil| Date: Thu, 09 Jan 2020 16:20:05 +0000
PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte is replacing Bureau of Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero with a prominent Davao-based businessman.
The President offered Guerrero’s post to William de Jesus Lima during a dinner in Malacañang on Wednesday night, which the President hosted for Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian, a highly reliable Palace source told The Manila Times on Thursday.
“During the dinner, the President offered the post to William Lima. The offer was accepted,” the source said.
Lima, 63, is from Buhangin, Davao City. He is a presidential special envoy to China and holds a business administration degree from the Ateneo de Davao University.
He is president of DC Invest Inc., which is into manpower services, manufacturing, food and restaurants, distribution and gasoline dealership, among others.
Once Malacañang formally announces his appointment, Lima will be the fourth Customs chief under the Duterte administration. He will also be Duterte’s first civilian Customs head.
Guerrero and his two predecessors, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority Director General Isidro Lapeña and Nicanor Faeldon, were all retired military and police officers.
Asked why the President is replacing Guerrero, the source pointed to the bureau’s failure to meet its collection target and rampant corruption, among others.
Despite continuing reforms to stop corruption and improve collection, Customs still fell short of its P661-billion target for 2019 by P16.5 billion.
Customs spokesman and Assistant Commissioner Philip Vincent Maronilla attributed the shortfall to prevalent misdeclaration and undervaluation of imported goods, among other forms of technical smuggling, coupled by lower volume of importations and the bureau’s failure to meet the P10 billion collection target from the government’s fuel marking program.
Records showed that the bureau also failed to meet its yearly collection target for eight successive years, from 2010 to 2017.
It only surpassed its target in 2018 under Lapeña.
In September 2018 Lapeña was forced to step down in the aftermath of the controversy over Customs’ failure to detect the entry into the country of P11 billion worth of shabu that were packed inside magnetic lifters.
Maronilla said while the campaign to stop corruption in the bureau continues, improving revenue collection would remain the top priority for 2020.
Guerro was appointed by the President in October 2018 following the forced resignation of Lapeña.