Marcos picks Yogi Filemon Ruiz as acting Customs chief
MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang announced Thursday that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has sworn in Yogi Filemon Ruiz as the acting commissioner of the Bureau of Customs, perceived to be one of the bastions of corruption in government.
Prior to his appointment as acting customs chief, Ruiz had been working in the bureau since 2017 as director of enforcement and security services which is in charge of the customs police.
Ruiz was PDEA director in Central Visayas for a year before he became customs director — a role given to him by his former boss at the government anti-drug body, Isidro Lapeña, who was customs chief from 2017 to 2018.
Lapeña came under fire in the latter days of his stint as customs chief after the PDEA, then under the leadership of Aaron Aquino, said that shabu (methamphetamine) amounting to P11 billion from four magnetic lifters got past the BOC and went missing.
Calls for Lapeña to quit mounted, but were ignored until then President Rodrigo Duterte moved him to head the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.
The challenge for Ruiz now is to follow Marcos’ marching orders from the campaign trail for his customs chief to make sure “there should not be any place for corruption.” — Xave Gregorio with a report from Kristine Joy Patag
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