IN an apparent bid to further improve operational and managerial efficiency, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) implemented a reshuffling of some key positions with the approval of the Department of Finance (DOF), ten days after the formal assumption of former BOC director Bienvenido Rubio as customs commissioner.

Under Customs Personnel Order (CPO) B23-2023, approved by Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno last February 23, 2023, Atty. Vener Baquiran, the deputy commissioner for Revenue Collection and Monitoring Group (RCMG), has swapped places with Atty. Edward Dy Buco, deputy commissioner for Assessment Operations and Coordinating Group (AOCG).

On the other hand, Atty. Clarence Dizon, former chief of the Ruling and Research Division, Legal Service, RCMG, was appointed as director of Port Operations Service, AOCG, taking over the post vacated by Rubio before his appointment by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. as customs chief.

Dizon would be replaced by Atty. Wally Ann Yumul, who was previously assigned at the Appellate Division, Legal Service.

Atty. Joseph Cristopher Torralba from the Prosecution and Litigation Division, a unit of the Legal Service, has been brought in by Baquiran to be his “chief of staff” at the AOCG.

Under CPO B21-2023, Atty. Maria Yasmin Obillos-Mapa, formerly the head of the Legal Service, would be the “go-to-person” at the Office of the Commissioner after being appointed as Rubio’s chief of staff.

Under CPO B22-2023, Atty. Lyndon Delos Santos would be assisting Mapa after he was transferred to the OCCOM from his previous post at the Ruling and Research Division, Legal Service.

Atty. Katrina Chua, concurrent acting chief of the Tax-Exempt Division, Legal Service assigned at the OCCOM, has been moved to the Prosecution and Litigation Division vice Torralba.

Chua would be replaced by Atty. Gezareno Singco as head of TED.

Atty. Ruther Martinez, chief of the Law Division, Port of Surigao, has been transferred to the main office of the Prosecution and Litigation Division in Manila.

He would be replaced by Atty. Antonio Beado Jr., formerly assigned to the Enforcement and Security Service (ESS/Customs Police).

Crisanto Brecia, Administrative Officer 4, SG-15 at the Port of Manila, is the new chief of the BOC Operations Center directly at the OCCOM.

Brecia would be assisted by Leonita Santiago, Intel Officer 2, SG-15, as his assistant chief at the Operations Center.

Rodolfo Gonda Jr., Special Police Major, SG-15, the erstwhile acting chief of the BOC Firearms and Explosives Unit, has been promoted as ESS district commander, Port of Surigao.

Under CPO B24-2023, Isabelo “Butch” Tibayan, chief of the Customs Police Division, ESS-Enforcement Group (EG), is now the acting director of the ESS/Customs Police.

Tibayan would be replacing Atty. Gilbert Ordoña, who was moved as acting chief, Radio Communications Division, ESS, while Jerry Arazabal, Special Police Area supervisor, replaced Tibayan as chief of the Customs Police Division.

\All the CPOs were only made available to the media recently.