Nepomuceno vows preparedness for civil defense task

MANILA, Philippines – Ariel Nepomuceno welcomed his appointment by President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. as the new administrator (Level III) of the Department of National Defense's Office of Civil Defense (OCD), stressing he is up for the challenge.

Nepomuceno, 57, expressed delight in the confidence given to him by the current administration after he formally took his oath before Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin at Malacañang last Wednesday.

“It (Office of Civil Defense post) is a real working job and not easy so I immediately went to the office yesterday to start working after my oath-taking,” said Nepomuceno, a former member of the Philippine Military Academy Hinirang Class of 1987.

“The task is national and challenging so we have to start working now.”

Nepomuceno formally took over the OCD after the turnover ceremonies at the Department of National Defense’s central office in Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City on Thursday.

The OCD is vital to the government’s response during times of calamities like floods, typhoons, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, among other disasters. Also under the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, the office is in charge of implementing programs to help mitigate the effects of national disasters.

Nepomuceno is not new to the OCD, having already served as a director and executive officer there during the time of the late former President Benigno S. Aquino from 2012 to 2013.

He replaced Undersecretary Raymundo Ferrer, who served for four months as OCD administrator.

“It looks like I’m just fortunately promoted now because I was a deputy before in the OCD at the time of Aquino,” he added. “But as what I have said the nature of work in the OCD is very busy, you have to prepare for upcoming calamities and hold your ground during calamities to save the people.”

Nepomuceno, awarded as the “Most Outstanding Graduate of the Social Science” of the University of the Philippines in 1989, also served the Bureau of Customs as deputy commissioner during the time of former Presidents Aquino and Rodrigo Duterte from 2013 to 2017.

During his time at the Bureau of Customs, he and his team have risked their lives for seizing billions of pesos worth of drugs and smuggled items. He also ordered the return of the infamous Canada waste to port of origin, and he was the first to use the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Law.

Prior to his government role, Nepomuceno was a former major reserve in the Philippine Air Force from 2006 to 2007, a Magna Cum Laude Graduate of the University of the Philippines, and a holder of an executive MBA degree from the Asian Institute of Management.