Bernie Anabo Jr.
The Bureau of Customs–Port of Manila (BOC-POM) is sending a powerful message: service may end with retirement, but dedication to the Filipino people never goes unrecognized.
In a fitting tribute to public servants who spent decades inside the demanding world of Customs, POM honored its August retirees—Ms. Maria Raquel B. Rañeses, who rendered 22 years of service, and Mr. Justino N. Nanao, Jr., who gave an extraordinary 41 years to government service.
And behind this meaningful recognition stood the POM leadership team led by District Collector Rizalino Jose C. Torralba, with Deputy Collector for Assessment Florante P. Ricarte and Deputy Collector for Administration Marilou A. Cabigon.
This was not merely another ceremony.
This was POM saluting the people who helped carry the Bureau through four decades of public service.
TORRALBA: LEADERSHIP THAT REMEMBERS
Under Collector RJ Torralba, the recognition of retiring personnel goes beyond handing over certificates and plaques.
It sends a clear signal that people matter.
In an institution where frontline officers face pressure, deadlines, difficult assessments, enforcement challenges and the relentless demands of revenue collection, remembering those who have served for decades is a mark of leadership.
Torralba, together with his deputy collectors, personally helped honor the retirees—putting a human face on an agency often measured by billions in collections and countless enforcement operations.
Revenue is important. Performance is important. But people who built the institution are important, too.
RICARTE: ASSESSMENT WITH A HUMAN FACE
Deputy Collector for Assessment Florante P. Ricarte likewise deserves the spotlight.
Assessment is one of the critical engines of Customs operations. It requires accuracy, discipline and accountability because every decision can have an impact on government revenue and legitimate trade.
But during the retirement recognition, Ricarte stood not simply as an assessment official.
He stood as a colleague honoring colleagues.
That matters.
An institution becomes stronger when technical excellence is matched by respect for the people who spent their careers serving it.
CABIGON: ADMINISTRATION THAT VALUES ITS PEOPLE
Deputy Collector for Administration Marilou A. Cabigon also played a key role in the tribute.
Administration is sometimes treated as the quiet machinery behind the scenes.
But without competent administration, even the strongest frontline operation can stumble.
Cabigon’s presence in the retirement ceremony underscored an important principle: the welfare, dignity and contribution of personnel must never be treated as an afterthought.
The Bureau needs people who can collect.
It needs people who can enforce.
It needs people who can assess.
But it also needs leaders who understand that every Customs employee is part of the institution’s story.
RANESES: 22 YEARS OF SERVICE
For Maria Raquel B. Rañeses, retirement closes a remarkable 22-year chapter of public service.
Twenty-two years is not just a number.
It represents thousands of working days, countless transactions, responsibilities, challenges and sacrifices that ordinary people rarely see.
She leaves the Bureau with something that cannot be measured in pesos:
a legacy of service.
NANAO: 41 YEARS—THAT IS A LIFETIME
And then there is Justino N. Nanao, Jr.
Forty-one years.
Read that again.
41 YEARS OF PUBLIC SERVICE.
That is more than four decades of waking up, reporting for duty, performing responsibilities and serving under changing administrations, policies, technologies and generations of Customs leadership.
For a government employee to dedicate 41 years to public service is no small achievement.
It is a career.
It is a lifetime.
And it deserves to be recognized loudly—not quietly.
NEPOMUCENO’S REFORM AGENDA MUST INCLUDE PEOPLE
The recognition also reflects the broader direction under Customs Commissioner Ariel F. Nepomuceno, whose leadership has emphasized Integrity, Accountability and Modernization.
But modernization is not merely about systems, technology and faster transactions.
Modernization must also mean building an institution that remembers and respects the people who made it work.
The retirement awards given to Rañeses and Nanao show that reform can have a human side.
Behind every collection figure is a Customs employee.
Behind every successful operation is a team.
Behind every institutional achievement are people who spent years carrying the workload.
And when those people finally walk out of the Bureau for the last time, they deserve more than a goodbye.
They deserve recognition.
THE BOTTOM LINE
POM’s August retirement tribute may have been a simple ceremony, but its message was anything but small.
Torralba led. Ricarte and Cabigon stood with him. Rañeses and Nanao were honored.
That is how an institution should treat its veterans.
Because in government service, positions change.
Officials come and go.
Policies evolve.
Technology transforms operations.
But dedication leaves a footprint.
And after 22 years from Rañeses and an extraordinarily 41 years from Nanao, that footprint is impossible to erase.
POM salutes its retirees.
And under Torralba, Ricarte and Cabigon, the message is clear:
SERVICE COUNTS. SACRIFICE COUNTS. AND THOSE WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES TO PUBLIC SERVICE MUST NEVER BE FORGOTTEN.
