Customs commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero expressed confidence the Bureau of Customs (BOC) will exceed this year its 2018 revenue collection of P593.11-billion.
In a chance interview with PortCalls last week, Guerrero, however, said BOC is still trying its best to hit this year’s target of P677-billion.
He noted the target is to maintain the monthly double-digit growth against last year’s, which he said the agency has accomplished so far.
BOC collection in October 2019 grew by 3.04% to P57.7 billion year-on-year, while the aggregate total for the period January to October 2019 rose as well by 7.57% to P527.7 billion from the P490.6 billion recorded in the first ten months of 2018.
From January to October 2019, BOC has already collected P538.036 billion, 9.3% lower than the full 2018 collections. It is also 1.2% lower than the P544.540 billion target for January to October 2019, but is 7.6% higher than collections for the same period last year, BOC assistant commissioner and spokesperson Atty. Vincent Philip Maronilla said in a presentation.
The increase in collection came despite major ports not hitting their monthly targets, especially starting from the second semester of the year.
During a Lower House Committee on Ways and Means briefing on November 27, the ports of Batangas, Cebu, Davao, Port of Manila (POM), and Manila International Container Port all reported negative deviations from their monthly targets from August to October 2019.
Batangas only hit its targets for January to March; Cebu for January, April, May, and July; Davao only from January to May; POM only in January, and MICP only in April.
Cebu port acting district collector Charlito Martin Mendoza explained that the negative deviation was due to the decline in volume of bulk and breakbulk shipments such as steel and cement, which are highly dutiable and part of the top importations of the port.
Davao district collector Erastus Sandino Austria attributed the decline primarily to the “cessation of importation of top four clients” of the port, which are all oil companies.
Port of Manila acting district collector Arsenia Ilagan said her port has seen a consistent decrease in the number of vessel arrivals since 2017, as well as lower shipments of dutiable goods as opposed to the higher volumes of non-dutiable goods.
Ilagan also noted that the POM is tasked to collect P20 billion from oil importations, which she noted are very minimal volumes in POM and most are crude oil and oil-related products. She said POM had been hitting its targets when Mariveles and Limay ports, which have oil importations, were still under its jurisdiction.
Batangas acting district collector Romalino Valdez said the shortfall for his port was due to reduced oil importation, particularly finished fuel products that are subject to excise tax. Importations of vehicles that are excisable have also declined. – Roumina Pablo