Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapeña said the Philippine Bureau of Customs (BOC) may fall short of its 2017 revenue target but is optimistic of doing better next year.
The customs chief, in a press conference on November 20, said BOC may not reach the P468-billion revenue target for 2017 despite record-high collections in the past few months. Lapeña noted that revenue collection was P20 billion below target when he took over BOC, but that the figure had already been cut to P19 billion for the first 10 months.
He said, however, he is positive BOC will meet its targets next year, as collections have broken records recently due to reforms being administered.
On September 28 and 29, the bureau had posted more than P3 billion in daily collections. Last October revenue performance made history after hitting the P42-billion mark, when previous average monthly collection had only been P35 billion. For November, the bureau recorded two days of P3 billion collections, exceeding daily targets.
Assessment and Operations Coordinating Group deputy commissioner Atty. Edward James Dy Buco, during the same press conference, noted that the higher monthly revenue collection was achieved despite lower volume of cargoes and more items becoming non-dutiable due to free trade agreements.
Dy Buco said the positive revenue performance can be attributed to BOC’s efficient administration and reforms imposed by Lapeña, such as eliminating benchmarking that the customs chief said brought in lesser revenues. He pointed to benchmarking as the reason for the wide discrepancy between China’s recorded exports to the country and the tallied imports in the Philippines.
The customs chief has ordered all BOC collection districts to stop benchmarking and instead collect the correct valuation of shipments. BOC assessment personnel recently underwent a refresher course on valuation and classification to update their skills and knowledge on the subject.
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