Newly appointed Bureau of Customs (BOC) Commissioner Ariel Nepomuceno admitted he was initially reluctant to accept the post at the BOC, citing issues linked to the agency. In a televised interview on Tuesday, Nepomuceno cited the pressure that comes with pushing for good governance within the BOC.

Despite this, the Customs chief laid out several measures introduced within his first month in office aimed at targeting irregularities in the operations of the BOC.

“In the first week alone, we immediately prohibited visits to importers’ warehouses,” he said, citing abuse complaints of several exporters.

Although not yet effective, the Customs Commissioner also added that they issued a memorandum barring Customs employees from acting as brokers.

Under the memorandum, employees are now required to disclose if they have relatives involved in trade-related businesses.

“There should be a disclosure so that if we find out who has a relative, we will check if they are paying properly. You know, if you are a broker, that's where the discount starts. The discount is not money. It's the money of the government, the money of the people.”

The validity of importer accreditations has also been extended from one year to three, in an attempt to cut down on opportunities for extortion during renewals.

Nepomuceno added that roughly 9,000 pending applications were inherited from the previous administration.

The BOC chief pointed to the digitization of Customs operations as a long-term solution to address corrupt practices.