Marcos appoints Ariel Nepomuceno as new BOC commissioner

President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. appointed Ariel Nepomuceno as the new commissioner of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) on Monday, replacing Bienvenido Rubio who submitted his courtesy resignation last May.

Nepomuceno officially assumed office on July 1 and vowed to build on previous gains while introducing strategic innovations in digitalization, enforcement, and stakeholder engagement, with a goal of achieving a 1.06-trillion collection target.

During Rubio's tenure from February 2023 to June 2025, the BOC recorded revenue collections of P883 billion in 2023 and about P916 billion in 2024, consistently surpassing annual targets.

Enforcement operations saw seizures jump from P43.29 billion worth of illicit goods in 2023 to P85.16 billion in 2024, demonstrating a stronger anti-smuggling posture.

Nepomuceno emphasized the need for full digitalization and pre-loading survey systems to eliminate human discretion in critical steps like importer assessments and payment processing.