BOC-Cebu hits P261M above collection target

CEBU, Philippines - The embattled Bureau of Customs in Cebu surpassed its target collection by over P261 million from January to July this year.

BOC-Cebu deputy collector for assessment Roberto Sacramento said that from January to July, the total collection was already P5,244,042,000. The amount is higher than its assigned target collection of P4,983,015,000.

“We are optimistic to meet our target of P8.6 billion for the entire year,” said Sacramento.

Carlos Corsiga, chief of the assessment division, said that for July alone they exceeded their target by over P195 million.

“This is due to the fact that we have power plants in Cebu and the big bulk of collection came from importation of power plants equipment by these power plants,” Corsiga told The Freeman.

Atty. Dante Maranan, chief of the auction and disposal unit, said they are also expecting bigger collection this month from the auction of the remaining smuggled rice earlier seized by the BoC.

The customs has scheduled on August 7 the auction of the 162,240 bags of smuggled rice where   the government is expected to earn P254 million.

Maranan said they plan to hold three public biddings for this month.

“We want nga tanang seized smuggled rice ma auction na. Hopefully this month, three auctions among mahimo, if not duha ka auction then early September na ang last auction,” said Maranan.

BOC-Cebu already earned around P40 million in its first auction last June. The said shipment is part of the 520,000 bags seized from Vietnam last April.

It has an estimated value of over P950 million to P1 billion. The huge accomplishment however was marred by the reported pilferage of 272 bags while held in the container yard at the Cebu International Port.

The BOC and the National Bureau of Investigation are currently conducting an investigation to determine the culprits. FPL (FREEMAN)