Belmonte brod named head of BOC-MICP unit

MANILA, Philippines - The brother of Speaker Feliciano Belmonte has been designated the head of the Bureau of Customs-Manila International Container Port (BOC-MICP).

Customs Collector VI Ricardo “Boysie” Belmonte, who was assigned at the Office of the Commissioner, traded places with Adelina Molina. The MICP is considered as one of the primary ports for collection.

Customs Commissioner Angelito Alvarez said the decision to place Belmonte as head of the MICP was part of their ongoing reshuffle to improve the agency’s revenue collection. The bureau was tasked to collect at P280 billion this year.

Belmonte, who was busy meeting with MICP personnel on his first day, said his “primary concern is to meet our collection target. I am meeting with people here” to know the situation. For this year, the MICP is tasked to collect P66 billion.

Belmonte, who held the position of district collector of Cebu, was placed on floating status even as he always exceeded his targets or in the Office of the Commissioner last year when his brother, who was then Quezon City mayor, left the Lakas party of then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and transferred to the Liberal Party (LP) of then Sen. Benigno Aquino III.

At that time, there were speculations that Belmonte was a victim of a political fallout between his brother and Arroyo. Now, his brother is the Speaker of the House of Representatives and Aquino the President of the Philippines, while Arroyo is a Pampanga congresswoman.

Other Customs officials who were affected by the reorganization in the bureau were Customs Deputy Commissioner Reynaldo Nicolas, who was replaced by Gregorio Chavez for the Assessment Operations Coordinating Group. Lawyer Peter Manzano took Chavez’s place as head of the Revenue Collection Monitoring Group, It was reported that he would likewise handle the agency’s Run After the Smugglers (RATS) program.