The velvet speeches are over. The pleasantries are done. There’s a new sheriff in Northern Mindanao—and he didn’t come to make friends.

When Atty. Manuel O. Zurbito Jr. assumed office as District Collector of Collection District X on October 27 in Macabalan, Cagayan de Oro, the ceremony may have looked routine. But behind the handshakes and smiles was a blunt message to smugglers, fixers, and fence-sitters inside government: the game has changed.

Zurbito is not a ribbon-cutter. He is not a career politician in barong. He comes from the Compliance Assessment Office of the Post Clearance Audit Group—a dreaded unit in Customs circles, feared by erring importers and uneasy insiders alike. This is where fraud gets exposed, shortcuts get punished, and paper lies collapse under hard numbers. Simply put: Zurbito knows the tricks because he has spent years busting them.

Replacing Collector Arthur G. Sevilla Jr., Zurbito arrives armed with a clear mandate from President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and an even clearer marching order from Customs Commissioner Ariel F. Nepomuceno:
Clean the house. Plug the leaks. Collect every peso due to the Filipino people. No alibis. No exemptions.

His opening statement was polite—good governance, discipline, revenue. But read between the lines, and you hear the warning siren: Collection District X is no longer open territory for abuse.

And this is no small post. District X controls the Port of Cagayan de Oro, the Mindanao Container Terminal in Tagoloan, and the sub-ports of Iligan and Ozamiz—major gateways that pump billions into the economy of Northern Mindanao. Where containers move fast and volumes run high, temptation follows like a shadow. For years, these ports have been whispered about, watched closely, and quietly questioned.

Now, they’re under a microscope.

Zurbito’s appointment signals that Malacañang and the BOC leadership have lost their patience. The era of looking the other way, of tolerating “pwede na” and “nakasanayan na,” is being shoved out the door. Northern Mindanao’s ports are too strategic, too valuable, and too vulnerable to be left to complacency.

For legitimate traders and law-abiding importers, this should be a breath of fresh air. A level playing field. Predictable rules. Less under-the-table nonsense.

For smugglers, fixers, and internal saboteurs? Start clearing your desks. Your hiding places are shrinking.

Atty. Manuel O. Zurbito Jr. did not come to warm a chair.
He came to shake the house, rattle the system, and prove that Customs reform is not a press release—it’s a street fight.

Northern Mindanao, consider this fair warning:
The gates are no longer wide open. The sheriff has arrived—and he’s watching.

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