Customs misses January collection target by P521M

The Bureau of Customs (BOC) continued to suffer in its collection campaign as the peso remained strong against the dollar, and failed to meet its January target of P15.841 billion by about P521 million.

Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales, however, pointed out that the bureau has nevertheless been effective in using alternative measures to boost its revenues to counter the impact of the strong peso to customs collections.

The BOC’s January target was based on the P254-billion goal for this year, assuming an exchange rate of 46 to a dollar. It was earlier established that for every P1 appreciation, there is a corresponding P2.8 billion impact on the bureau’s collections.

Morales said BOC raised P15.32 billion last month, a figure that was P3.54-billion higher than the bureau’s collection in the same period last year when it had only P11.759 billion.

“We were able to beat our record last year despite the odds. The strong value of peso should have cost us billions in deficit but we are coping because of our non-traditional measures to collect more revenue for the government,” he explained.

According to Morales, the improvement of BOC’s January collection compared to last year could be attributed to the updated database, mobilization of the Post Entry Audit Group (PEAG), intensified operation of the Auction and Cargo Disposal Division and the speedy disposition of cases on seizures.

Based on the bureau’s preliminary district reports, 10 port districts were able to meet their respective targets during the period, with eight surpassing the revenue goals assigned to them for the month.

Those who met their goals were the Port of San Fernando, which collected P114 million or P35.58 million more than its P78.42-million target; Manila International Container Port (MICP) collecting P4.866 billion, P166 million more than its P4.7-billion target; Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) which collected P1.227 billion, posting a P217-million surplus; Port of Legaspi, which collected P4.4 million, overshooting its target by P600,000; Port of Iloilo which posted a P20 million collection; Port of Cebu, which overshot its target of P350 million by a whopping P65 million; Cagayan de Oro, which collected P336 million, P36 million more than its target; Port of Davao, which collected P118 million, as opposed to its P116.31-million target; Port of Subic which collected P323 million; and Port of Clark which overshot its P30 million target by P5 million.

According to bureau officials, these figures are still considered preliminary as the complete collection reports are still being collated.