Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero “has the full confidence” of President Rodrigo Duterte and will remain at his post, 
Manila Times has learned from a source in Malacanang.
Yesterday, Manila Times bannered a story quoting an earlier source that the president offered Guerrero’s job to Davao City businessman William de Jesus Lima, and that Lima accepted. The Palace source clarified to The Times that Duterte made the offer “in jest” during a casual conversation.
“I don’t think the president will replace him. Guerrero is doing a good job at the Bureau of Customs. The president is more than satisfied with Guerrero’s performance,” the source added.
Duterte supposedly offered Guerrero’s post to Lima during a dinner in Malacanang Wednesday night for Chinese ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian.
Cabinet Secretary Karlo Alexei Nograles confirmed that no replacement for Guerrero has been named.
“There’s no specific instructions yet. There’s no such specific orders yet,” Nograles told reporters when asked about Lima’s supposed appointment.
“We wait for orders but no orders have been issued as of the moment,” he said.
Lima, 63, is a presidential special envoy to China and holds a business administration degree from the Ateneo de Davao University.
Following Nograles’ clarification, Guerrero called on officials and employees of the bureau to stay focused on their job.
On Monday, Guerrero reported that for 2019, the Bureau of Customs collected P630.571bn, which is 6.3% more than the P593bn collection in 2018.
The bureau has also launched projects that enhanced trade facilitation and improved revenue collection, he said. It also intensified its campaign against illegal drugs. More than P3.590bn worth of smuggled illegal drugs were seized in 2019.
Under Guerrero, Customs made marked improvements in its campaign against graft and corruption. A total of 147 show-cause orders were issued against bureau personnel for violating regulations. 
A total of 152 employees were administratively charged, 20 dismissed, and eight suspended. A total of 120 cases are pending with the Department of Justice and the Office of the Ombudsman.
To set the tone and define the way forward, Guerrero also came out with a 10-point priority programme which include  enhancement of the Bureau of Customs Information and Technology System; implementing automation to improve the Bureau’s processes and to integrate its systems for more efficient and effective operations; filling up of vacant plantilla positions; provision of incentives for Customs employees to improve morale and motivate people to perform better; restructuring of the bureau’s organisation. New offices and positions will be created, while redundant or overlapping functions will be merged in the interest of streamlining and upgrading the organisation; enhancement of Customs facilities; 
enhancement of Cargo Clearance and Examination Capabilities; 
enhancement of Intelligence and Enforcement Capabilities to ensure the bureau can contribute to the border security and economic development.
In addition, the programme includes codification and harmonisation of IRRs, administrative orders and memorandum orders; creation of a Quality Management System & Integrity System and pursuing the passage of Customs-related legislative measures.
Guerrero said priorities were anchored on improving organisational efficiency, upgrading individual proficiencies and strengthening institutional capabilities.
“We are taking the lessons learned and putting them to work, for the development of the bureau in the short-term and over the long haul,” he said.