BOC continues to miss collection target

By: Jerry E. Esplanada - 11 years ago

Customs Commissioner John Sevilla. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – “So far, not so good.”

That was how a high official of the Bureau of Customs described the agency’s revenue collections during the first quarter of the year, which totaled P86.26 billion, P8.51 billion short of its target of P94.76 billion.

The official, who asked not to be identified by name for lack of authority to speak to the media, said it was unlikely the bureau would meet its annual revenue target of P408.1 billion.

Last year, the BOC collected a little over P300 billion, P34 billion short of its 12-month goal of P340 billion.

Still, the 2014 first quarter revenues were P17.45 billion more than the P68.81 billion collected in the same period last year, according to a preliminary revenue collection report shown to the Inquirer.

The same report showed that for the third month in a row, the bureau failed to meet its revenue goal with collections of a little over P29 billion, about P4.21 billion short of its March target of P33.28 billion.

The seasonal slump in imports after the Chinese New Year in February was cited as one of the reasons for the lower collections.

Despite the increasing revenue deficit, Customs Commissioner John Phillip Sevilla has insisted that the agency was “moving in the right direction,” citing what he referred to as the “sustained growth in our collections.”

The former finance undersecretary for privatization pointed out that total collections of the Bureau of Customs reached P27.4 billion in February, an increase of 22 percent year-on-year.

According to Sevilla, revenues continued to grow despite a slight dip of 1.42 percent in the volume of importations in February 2014 due to a work stoppage by trucking groups to protest the expanded truck ban in Manila.

During the first two months of the year, only six of the bureau’s 17 collection districts nationwide surpassed their revenue targets: Batangas, with collections of P12.51 billion over its goal of P11.29 billion; Cebu, P2.23 billion/P1.90 billion; Davao, P1.32 billion/P1.19 billion; Cagayan de Oro, P1.3 billion/P1.22 billion; San Fernando, La Union, P262.1 million/P243.4 million; Iloilo, P177.9 million/P131 million.

On the other hand, the following ports registered deficits: Port of Manila, P10.5 billion/P13.2 billion; Limay port in Bataan, P6.15 billion/P6.97 billion; Ninoy Aquino International Airport, P4.25 billion/P5.53 billion; Subic Freeport in Zambales, P1.32 billion/P2.22 billion; Clark International Airport, P134.8 million/P245.7 million; Legaspi, P37 million/P45 million; Tacloban, P23.6 million/P55.2 million; and Zamboanga, P7 million/P9 million; and Surigao, P200,000/P400,000.

Aparri port in Cagayan, which had a revenue target of P49.4 million, had yet to submit its collection report for the two-month period, according to the BOC Public Information and Assistance Division.