The Bureau of Customs (BOC) surpassed its revenue collection target in January 2019, posting a total of P48.153 billion, 5.5% higher than the P45.626 billion goal.
Based on a preliminary report of the Bureau of Treasury, revenues generated by the BOC in January were derived mostly from cash collection–duties, taxes and fees collected from goods that entered through the customs ports nationwide.
The January 2019 revenue collection was also 17.9% higher compared with the P40.830 billion collected in the same period last year.
With BOC exceeding last month’s collection, it had achieved another milestone for hitting its revenue collection goal for the month of Jnauary, which for years have been an “elusive milestone”, according to BOC assistant commissioner Atty. Vincent Philip Maronilla.
January and February are traditionally slow months, following the usually peak “ber’ months and February being the Chinese inventory month. Last year, BOC was also able to exceed its February target, too.
BOC in a statement said exceeding its revenue collection is “on the back of continued process improvements being implemented by Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero such as tighter watch over imports and import values of goods.”
Guerrero said that far more aggressive reforms will be implemented over the next months, BOC noted.
These include automation to improve the Bureau’s processes, enhancement of cargo clearance and examination capabilities, and strengthening of institutional and individual capabilities in the area of intelligence and enforcement, which are part of BOC’s 10-point priority program for 2019.
