Customs deputy commissioner Ariel Nepomuceno resigns anew

MANILA, Philippines — Three months after he returned to the Bureau of Customs (BOC), Assistant Commissioner for Post Clearance Audit Group (PCAG) Ariel Nepomuceno has resigned again from the agency.

Nepomuceno said he submitted his letter of resignation last Feb. 19 to President Duterte, through the Office of Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapeña.  

With his exit from government, the resigned Customs official said that he would go back to the private sector, attend to his business and look for prospective investors in the country.  

“I will go back to the private sector and help the President and the country from there. I have, for example, strong access to foreign investors who can help strengthen the economy. In fact, some of them are just waiting for me,” Nepomuceno told The STAR. 

He hopes that Duterte would accept his resignation letter.

“I hope he allows me to focus on bringing investments to the country. I can help him better that way. We need a stronger economy and source of livelihood. In that aspect, I can definitely deliver,” he said.

Nepomuceno clarified that during his brief tenure as BOC-PCAG assistant commissioner, he had a good working relationship with Commissioner Lapeña. 

“I have no problem with Commissioner Lapeña. He has my utmost respect. He’s a real officer and a gentleman.”

Nepomuceno even praised Lapeña, whom he calls a friend, for the reforms he has been doing in the bureau.

“He’s on the right track in reforming BOC... We have agreed to continue helping each other,” Nepomuceno added.

He said that Lapeña supported his decision to leave the agency.

The two Customs officials have known each other even before Lapeña was appointed as director general of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in July 2016.

Nepomuceno first joined the BOC in November 2013 where he served as deputy commissioner for the Enforcement Group (EG).

On Aug. 30 last year, Nepomuceno tendered his courtesy resignation to give way to the new leadership of Lapeña, who succeeded commissioner Nicanor Faeldon. 

President Duterte reappointed him and he was given another post in the bureau as PCAG head last December until he submitted his second resignation letter last Feb. 19. 

He was the only deputy commissioner appointed by the previous administration of former president Benigno Simeon Aquino III and retained by the Duterte administration.