DESPITE a suspension order from the Office of the Commissioner, Port of Manila-Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service (BOC-CIIS) station chief Oliver Pacunayen has reportedly continued reporting for work.
Customs sources disclosed on Wednesday that Pacunayen even attended the meeting regarding the bureau’s anti-smuggling operations on Jan. 19, 2026.
“He was at the meeting. The meeting’s agenda was about the [PNP]-Highway Patrol Group’s seizure of smuggled cigarettes and immediate anti-smuggling operations of the BOC,” the source told The Manila Times.
The Times asked the office of Commissioner Arnel Nepomuceno for any order lifting Pacunayen’s suspension, but got no reply.
Assistant Commissioner and concurrent spokesman Philip Vincent Maronilla clarified that Pacunayen was not reporting for duty, as he is still under preventive suspension.
“Pumasok lang kasi may hearing yung investigation sa kanya (He just came in because there was a hearing on the probe that involves him),” Maronilla told The Times.
According to the source, Pacunayen’s alleged defiance of the Commissioner’s suspension order has raised doubts that “there was really no formal written suspension order but only a verbal order.”
But Maronilla said that “there is [an order]; it (suspension) cannot be done verbally,” adding that the office of the deputy commissioner for intelligence has a copy of the suspension order.
On Jan. 7, Nepomuceno confirmed to The Manila Times that he ordered the relief of Pacunayen following allegations of irregularity.
Nepomuceno also ordered an internal investigation into the reported escalation of smuggling activities, allegedly carried out with the involvement of some officials of the CIIS.
According to Nepomuceno, Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence Romy Rosales has been tasked to lead the investigation.
