Maria Yasmin M. Obillos-Mapa CollectorBureau of Customs of the Philippines

Atty. Maria Yasmin M. Obillos-Mapa is currently the District Collector of the Bureau of Customs – Ninoy Aquino International Airport, the main international gateway of travelers and express cargoes to and from the Philippines. She started her career in the Philippine Customs as a lawyer for the Legal Service and was later promoted to the Intelligence Group. Prior to her appointment by the President of Philippines as District Collector, she was previously designated as the Chief-of-Staff to the Commissioner of Customs and the Director of the Legal Service and the Bureau’s Action Team Against Smugglers, the office mandated to handle the criminal prosecution of smuggling cases. Committed to the objective of secured trade facilitation, she championed the implementation of the Philippine Authorized Economic Operator Program, launched in December 2019, or a few months before the outbreak of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Adjusting to the restrictions then, Collector Mapa ensured the continuous operations of the AEO Office, as well as the evaluation and validation of the applicants for the program. After serving as Chief from 2020 to 2023, she is currently an active member of the AEO Office’s Mutual Recognition Arrangement Unit and was instrumental in the negotiation and signing of the first AEO Mutual Recognition Arrangement between the Philippines and China. Collector Mapa likewise heads the Secretariat of the National Trade Facilitation Committee of the Philippines and is passionate about promoting gender equality in trade, having been invited as a resource speaker at the Asia Pacific Trade Facilitation Forum 2022 in Singapore, co-organized by ADB and ESCAP.