Holganza named customs district collector in Cebu

CEBU, Philippines - A former Cebu City councilor who had been working with the Bureau of Customs since he quit politics is now at the helm of Cebu Port, one of the major ports in the country that is contributing billions of pesos in revenue collections.

Lawyer Rico Rey Francis Holganza assumed yesterday as the new customs district collector replacing retired  General Arnulfo Marcos who is now back to his private life.

BOC-Cebu chief of staff Kenneth Kern Sesante said the turnover was done at 5 p.m. yesterday.

Holganza was the bureau’s deputy collector for operations holding concurrent positions as chief of the Legal Division and the Bonds Division.

As of press time, it was not clear who will assume Holganza’s positions now that he was appointed district collector.

Holganza has been in the BOC since the early part of 2000 when he served as assistant chief of the Legal Division. He was later designated as chief of the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Services in Cebu.

Sesante said Marcos did not complain upon receiving his relief order. Reports had it that the revamp was due to the alleged failure of the former general  to raise revenues. Aside from Marcos, the other former military men in the BOC were also removed.

The records at the BOC-Cebu, however, show that Marcos was performing well in Cebu. In fact, he was able to surpass its 2015 target collection by P923.3 million.

Conrado Abarintos, chief of BOC-Cebu Collection Division, said that they were able to collect P16,528,815,000 more than the P15,605,460,000 target last year.

 Marcos, a former district collector in Subic prior to his assignment in Cebu, also exceeded his target in 2014 having able to collect P15.2 billion against the target collection of P10.2 billion.—(FREEMAN)