Belmonte to turn over post Tuesday

CEBU, Philippines - The turnover of command between outgoing District Collector Ricardo Belmonte and his successor is scheduled on Tuesday during the Christmas Party of employees of the Bureau of Customs - Cebu.

Assistant assessment chief Florante Ricarte said the turnover was originally scheduled tomorrow afternoon, but was moved to 10am on Tuesday to allow Belmonte to be with employees of the BOC.

A reliable source told The Freeman that incoming collector Ronnie Silvestre would have wanted to defer his assumption to next year to allow Belmonte to wind up, but Malacañang reportedly ordered him to report to Cebu immediately.

Belmonte’s reassignment to the Office of the Commissioner was seen to be politically motivated owing to the shift of political alliance of his brother, Quezon City Mayor Feleciano “Sonny” Belmonte. The mayor recently joined the Liberal Party.

The suspicion was further bolstered by Belmonte’s good collection performance.

The record shows that as of December 8, 2009 Belmonte already surpassed the annual collection target assigned to Cebu by 6.9 percent having a total collection of P6.057 billion as against its P5.663 billion annual target.

Belmonte has consistently posted positive deviations in their targets since 2007. In fact, records show that this years collection is 14.39 percent higher compared to that of 2008. Last year’s collection was also 5.95 percent higher compared to that of 2007. — Fred P. Languido/JMO    (FREEMAN NEWS)