Manila’s daytime truck ban has combined with a seasonal drop in imports to keep the Bureau of Customs from achieving its February revenue target of P30.18 billion, a newspaper report said, citing preliminary BOC data.
The agency collected just over P26 billion, indicating a P4 billion shortfall and the second month in a row that it fell short of its goal, the report said.
The February collection, however, was P3.71 billion higher than the bureau’s P22.47 billion take in the same month last year.
The Manila International Container Port (MICT) incurred the biggest shortfall of P1.84 billion, followed by the Port of Manila with a deficit of P1.64 billion.
The BOC acknowledged last month that both the POM and MICP, two of the country’s biggest ports, were hurt by the truck ban imposed by Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada.
From Feb. 24 to 26 alone, the two ports registered revenue losses of P272.59 million and P217.39 million, respectively, or a total of P489.96 million.
The bureau said the number of container vans of imported goods released from the POM and MICP fell because of the truck ban, leading to a “dramatic decline” in revenue collections.
Before the truck ban, the daily average collections at the POM and MICP were P252.95 million and P359.76 million, respectively.
Other ports with collection deficits in February were Limay in Bataan, P830 million; Clark International Airport in Pampanga, P71.5 million; Iloilo City, P41.9 million; Legazpi City, P10.7 million; and Zamboanga City, P3.5 million, among others.
The BOC also missed its revenue target of P31.3 billion with total collections of P29.78 billion, for a P1.52 billion shortfall.
However, the revenues for the 21-day trading period were P5.24 billion higher than P24.54 billion the agency collected in the same period last year.
Eight of the 17 collection districts, including the MICP, POM, Nino Aquino International Airport, Aparri in Cagayan, and Tacloban City missed their revenue goals for the period.
Those that registered revenue surpluses included the ports of Batangas, Subic Freeport in Zambales, Davao, Cebu and Cagayan de Oro, among others.
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