Thursday, January 31, 2008 Congressman’s son now MEZ customs collector
THE brother-in-law of Cebu City Councilor Edgar Labella has been appointed and has taken over as collector of customs for the Mactan Economic Zone (MEZ) operations.
He promised to introduce reforms to increase revenues for the government.
Francisco Jose “Bingo” F. Matugas II, a certified public accountant and a law graduate, has been a low-profile examiner of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) sub-port of Mactan for seven years.
Prior to his customs posts, he held six positions in the private sector from 1994 to 2001, among them as member of the board of trustees of Northern Mindanao Colleges, president of Siargao Island Institute of Technology, IT consultant of Surigao Cable TV Corp. and chief finance officer of Newgen Products Inc., an industrial chemical trading company.
His office covers MEZ 1 in Barangay Ibo, Lapu-Lapu City; MEZ 2 in Barangay Basak, Lapu-Lapu City; and MEZ 3, also called the Light Industrial Corp., in Barangay Pajo. The three zones have a total of more than 200 firms, mostly owned by Japanese nationals.
Processing
In the past seven years as a customs operations officer III, Matugas’ responsibility was to examine cargo importations coming in through the Port of Mactan and to inspect passengers and their cargoes arriving at the Mactan Cebu International Airport.
With his new responsibility, he will supervise the processing of documents on the exports of MEZ companies. Of the MEZ firms, 70 percent are manufacturers of electronic components. The other 30 percent produce garments and other products.
The Customs-Peza Clearing Office, which processes documents on importations, is supposed to be under Matugas. However, import documentation will no longer through Matugas’ desk.
Despite that, Matugas said he will try his best to increase revenues from documentary stamps, duties on the sales of scrap and duties on the local sales of MEZ firms.
Matugas’ father is Siargao Rep. Francisco Matugas, while his mother is Director Sol Matugas of the Department of Education 8 based in Tacloban City. He is married to Ethel Colina Labella, the youngest sister of Councilor Labella and Bureau of Quarantine 7 Chief Dr. Emmanuel Labella. (EOB)
