Customs misses monthly revenue target again

Bureau of Customs. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—For the second month in a row, the Bureau of Customs failed to meet its revenue goal with a collection of a little over P26 billion, some P4 billion short of its February target of P30.18 billion.

The Manila truck ban was cited as one of the reasons for the lower collection, aside from the seasonal slump in imports.

Still, the revenue for the four-week trading period was P3.71 billion higher than the P22.47 billion collected in the same period last year, a “preliminary revenue collection report” shown to the Inquirer indicated.

The report said that among the bureau’s 17 collection districts nationwide, the Manila International Container Port suffered the biggest shortfall of P1.84 billion, followed by the Port of Manila with a deficit of P1.64 billion.

Last month, the bureau acknowledged that both the POM and MICP, two of the country’s biggest ports, were adversely affected by the truck ban imposed by Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada.

It reported that 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.

In a statement, the agency explained that the drop in the number of container vans of imported goods released from the POM and MICP resulted in a “dramatic decline in the ports’ revenue collections.”

Before the truck ban, the POM and MICP had daily average collections of P252.95 million and P359.76 million, respectively.

Other ports that recorded 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; Zamboanga City, P3.5 million, among others.

In January, the bureau also failed to meet its revenue target of P31.3 billion with total collections of P29.78 billion, for a shortfall of P1.52 billion.

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, Naia, Aparri in Cagayan, and Tacloban City missed their revenue goals for the period.

On the other hand, those that registered revenue surpluses included the ports of Batangas, Subic Freeport in Zambales, Davao, Cebu and Cagayan de Oro, among others.