New Customs execs get tips from Biazon

Former Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff Jessie Dellosa now deputy commissioner for the Customs Enforcement Group: Big challenge ahead. AFP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Aside from a “quick orientation on Bureau of Customs life,” four of the agency’s five new deputy commissioners received tips on how to deal with rumormongers and name droppers, as well as the over 100 media persons covering the agency, in a meeting Monday with their boss, Commissioner Ruffy Biazon.

Biazon recalled the meeting on his Twitter account: “With the newly appointed deputy commissioners, gave them some tips on what to expect and what’s expected.”

“Gave them some advice on media relations, especially since they’re in the limelight now,” he added.

He went on: “Shared with them actual experiences I had when I first entered the bureau [in September 2011], particularly about rumormongers and name droppers.”

The four were former Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff Jessie Dellosa, Agaton Teodoro Uvero, Myrna Chua and Ma. Edita Tan.

Dellosa was appointed deputy commissioner for the Enforcement Group, replacing Horacio Suansing Jr.

The retired general was also designated acting chief of the Intelligence Group, which used to be headed by resigned Deputy Commissioner Danilo Lim, also a former military officer.

‘Order of battle’

Uvero, Chua and Tan are the deputy commissioners for the Assessment and Operations Coordinating Group, Internal Administration Group and Revenue Collection Monitoring Group, respectively.

Primo Aguas, the new deputy commissioner for the Management Information Systems and Technology Group, is out of the country.

Biazon in an interview said the agency’s “order of battle”—a list of suspect importers and brokers—would be endorsed to Dellosa for the enforcement group to work on.

For his part, Dellosa said he had a lot of familiarizing to do at the BOC but his priorities would be reforming the bureau and putting an end to smuggling.

“That is our priority … reform the bureau and at the same time increase revenue collection and stop smuggling,” he said.

“There is a big challenge ahead, not only for me but for all of us in the BOC,” Dellosa added.

On the media, Biazon further wrote on Twitter: “There’s a flurry of writers from some (newspapers) about a certain BOC official,” whom he did not identify.

“Too bad, these writers are not being fed the accurate information … goes to show that jukeboxes are not yet phased out,” he said.

At the BOC, Biazon has created a task force to go after fake journalists “covering” the agency.

This “part of the organizational reform we’re doing,” he said.