Newly elected Philippine President Benigno Aquino III has appointed businessman Angelito Alvarez as the new chief of the Bureau of Customs (BOC). Alvarez is the president and chief operating officer of Airfreight 2100 Inc., the local licensee of US-based logistics services company Federal Express Corp. Aquino earlier said that the government will have to improve tax collection and curb smuggling and corruption to boost the country’s revenues and plug the widening deficit. For the months of January to May this year, the BOC collected 107.5 billion pesos (US$2.3 billion), 27.1 per cent higher than last year.