The Bureau of Customs (BOC) last week implemented a reshuffle of top personnel.
One notable change was the reinstatement of Ricardo Belmonte as district collector of the Manila International Container Port. Belmonte — a brother of House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte — took over the post of Adelina Molina who was named Customs Commissioner Angelito Alvarez’s chief of staff. Belmonte was the former Port of Cebu district collector before his transfer. He was on floating status during the time of ex Customs chief Napoleon Morales.
Prospero Balbino was also appointed acting deputy commissioner for the Customs Intelligence Group, taking the place of Jairus Paguntalan, who opted for early retirement last March.
Before the latest round of appointments, Peter Manzano was named deputy commissioner for revenue collection and monitoring as well as head of the BOC’s Run After the Smugglers program. Manzano replaced Gregorio Chavez who was appointed deputy commissioner for operations and, who in turn, replaced Atty. Reynaldo Nicolas. Nicolas was in Japan when the appointment was made.
