Ports’ take falls short of target

MANILA, Philippines—Both the Port of Manila (POM) and the Manila International Container Port (MICP), two of the country’s biggest ports, failed to meet their 2014 targets with collections of only P60.28 billion and P97.91 billion, respectively, the Bureau of Customs said.

Citing Bureau of Treasury data, the BOC reported that the POM and MICP registered revenue collection deficits of P25.15 billion and P17.83 billion.

Last year, the two ports’ revenue goals were P85.43 billion and P115.79 billion, respectively.

In December alone, the POM and MICP collected only P4.29 billion and P7.93 billion, respectively.

Their respective revenue targets for the month were P6.39 billion and P8.66 billion.

The Bureau of Customs earlier acknowledged the government’s revenue collections had been adversely affected by the truck ban imposed by the Manila city government and the resulting port congestion, among others. Jerry E. Esplanada