Brief standoff at BOC stalls work

Work at the Bureau of Customs in Cebu was disrupted for about an hour after lawyer Maria Lourdes Mangaoang arrived and insisted that she is still the highest-ranking official of the agency.

Mangaoang, who was assigned as Port Collector of Cagayan De Oro City, claims that her official position in the BOC is Deputy Collector for Assessment in the Port of Cebu.

“I am still the deputy collector of this office,” Mangaoang announced when she arrived at 11 a.m. yesterday.

Lawyer Paul Alcazaren, the former Sub-Port Collector of Mactan Cebu International Airport, was designated by Customs Commissioner Rufino Biazon to be the officer-in-charge of BOC Cebu in a memorandum dated Sept. 30 being the most senior officer.

He assumed office last Tuesday and promised to try his best to hit the P2.2 billion collection target for the last quarter of the year.

Alcazaren belittled Mangaoang’s interference saying it is Biazon who has the power to decide who to appoint in the Port of Cebu.

As customs collector of the Port of Cagayan de Oro, Mangaoang is one of the 17 customs collector ordered by Biazon to report to Manila, pending an overhaul of the BOC which President Aquino said is one of the most corrupt government agencies during his State of the Nation Address in June.

Alcazaren did not leave his post despite Mangaoang’s presence but explained that he has nothing against her. Mangaoang did not face the media and held a closed-door meeting with all the customs examiners in the Port of Cebu.

Alcazaren said that he is willing to go back to his post should Biazon order him to do so.