PORT OF CEBU COLLECTOR AXED; CUSTOMS COMMISSIONER NEPOMUCENO IMPLEMENTS ONE-STRIKE POLICY AGAINST ERRING CUSTOMS PERSONNEL

Port of Cebu District Collector Alexandra Yap Lumongtad has been ordered transferred immediately.

In a Customs Personnel Order (CPO) leaked to NewStar Phil signed by both Finance Secretary Frederick Go and Customs Commissioner Ariel Nepomuceno dated June 30, 2026, Lumongtad has been reassigned to head the Financial Management Office of the BoC Internal Administration Group (IAG).

Her replacement is a seasoned customs officer, Atty. Czae Carrie De Guzman, erstwhile the Deputy Collector for Operations of the Port of Clark in Pampanga.

The relief of Lumongtad came on the heels of a series of seizure of “illicit cigarettes” that were traced to have passed the Area of Responsibility (AOR) of the Port of Cebu.

About P1.7B of 23 containers of illicit cigarettes were seized by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) last June 22 in a private yard in Tondo, Manila.

NBI Director Melvin Matibag revealed that the ship that carried the smuggled cigarettes that reportedly originated from China and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates were traced to have originated from the Pier 7 in Mandaue City.

Prior to the seizure of the smuggled cigarettes in Manila, about P3.3B of illicit cigarettes were also seized in the Port of Surigao last May- which according to reports have also passed the AOR of the Port of Cebu.

A subsequent operation were also conducted by the combined NBI Cebu and Cebu based Bureau of Customs agents last last June 24 in Bacayan Cebu City and the city’s Gothong wharf that resulted in the seizure of 11 container vans of practically the same kind of smuggled cigarettes valued at about P860M.

Last Thursday night, 25 containers were also seized in the Gothong wharf worth about P980 million but it happened just when the CPO to replaced Lumongtad was already done.

Before her stint in Cebu, Lumongtad was assigned in the Port of Cagayan de Oro City.

Her successor, De Guzman had been formerly assigned as chief of the BoC Xray Inspection Project (XIP); Intellectual Property Rights, among others.

Meanwhile, as he starts his second year as Bureau of Customs Commissioner, Nepomuceno who was appointed by President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. (PBBM) in July last year (he took his oath in Malacañang on June 30, 2025 to replaced then BoC Commissioner Bienvinido Rubio)
announced the implementation of “one-strike policy” against erring customs personnel.

The policy coincided after the series of apprehensions of illicit cigarettes which did not have the accompanying tax stamps thus depriving the government of huge amount of excise taxes.

“Sa umpisa ng ikalawang taon natin sa BOC, makakaasa ang ating mga kababayan ng mas agresibong pagtugis sa mga smuggler at pagpapanagot sa ating mga tauhan. Let the recent apprehensions of illicit cigarettes worth billions be a declaration of war against smuggling activities and the strict enforcement of a zero-tolerance policy on our personnel,” Commissioner Nepomuceno said.

 

[Customs Collector Alexandra Yap Lumongtad (fronting the camera standing beside a uniformed officer of the AFP) inspected one of the reams of illicit cigarettes that were seized recently by authorities in Bacayan Cebu City.)

[NBI agents inspected the Gothong wharf in Cehu where container vans that were loaded with illicit cigarettes were discovered)

 

📷 via PAUL LAURO

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[BoC and NBI seals were attached to the container vans that were loaded with illicit cigarettes in Cebu.)