Customs bureau sees 2020 collection exceeding target

MANILA, Philippines—A consistent collection of duties and other taxes that exceeded targets for six months is driving confidence in the Bureau of Customs (BOC) of surpassing its full year target of collecting P506 billion.

On Tuesday (Dec. 1), Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo B. Guerrero told the Inquirer that the country’s second biggest tax-collection agency again exceeded its monthly goal in November, citing a preliminary report.

Vincent Philip C. Maronilla, assistant Customs commissioner and spokesperson, said that the November take, P44.7 billion, was 5.9 percent higher than the target of P42.2 billion, citing a report of the BOC’s financial service.

The collection, however, was lower than P50.4 billion in the same period in 2019.

From January to November, the BOC collected P493.3 billion or 97 percent of the full-year program.

The BOC’s 11-month revenue collection, nonetheless, also declined from P578.1 billion in 2019.

The Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) last July reduced the government’s tax and non-tax revenue targets amid a pandemic-induced recession.

In the BOC’s case, closure of international borders at the height of COVID-19 lockdowns here and abroad forced Philippine economic managers to slash collection goal from the original P731 billion before the pandemic.

But as quarantine restrictions eased, foreign trade, especially with China, started to recover, although total imports were still 26 percent lower compared to 2019 levels.

“We are aiming not just to hit the yearend target but to exceed it,” said Maronilla in an interview with Inquirer last week.

“Looking at our performance, we are confident to do so even if the December volume is expected to dip based on historical figures,” Maronilla said.

Maronilla said items usually being sold locally during the Christmas holidays had been imported months ahead of December, hence the relatively lower shipments towards the end of the year.

Out of the country’s 17 ports, 12 collection districts surpassed their collection goals in November—Aparri, Batangas, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, Clark, Davao, Manila, Naia, Subic, Surigao, Tacloban, and Zamboanga.

Edited by TSB