CUSTOMS collections increased 3.4% for October to P27.86 billion from P26.934 billion year-on-year as revenue improved for four months in a row, according to official data from the Philippine Bureau of Customs.
The October revenue take was, however, 8.7% lower than the P30.5-billion target set by the inter-agency Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC).
Final numbers reconciled with the Bureau of Treasury showed cash collections from the BOC’s port operations reached P26.56 billion, while revenue from the Tax Expenditure Fund (TEF), which is non-cash collection recorded on paper for government transactions such as rice importations by the National Food Authority, reached P1.3 billion.
For the first 10 months of the year, BOC’s total revenue collection amounted to P252.49 billion, up 4.94% from P240.592 billion in the same period last year but 10.13% short of the P280.944-billion DBCC goal.
Out of BOC’s 17 collection districts, 10 exceeded their revenue targets for October.
The Manila International Container Port (MICP), with a customs take of P7.736 billion; Port of Manila (POM), P5.233 billion; and Batangas Port, P6.107 billion continued to contribute the lion’s share of the agency’s revenue collections in October, totaling over P19 billion.
MICP and Batangas collected more than their targets while the POM was P862,000 short of the target set by DBCC.
Other ports that exceeded their target collections for the month of October were as follows: San Fernando (P124 million), Ninoy Aquino International Airport (P2.541billion), Iloilo (P167 million), Cebu (P877 million), Cagayan De Oro (P607 million), Zamboanga (P9.03 million), Davao (P624 million), Subic (P1.175 billion), and Clark (P78 million).
“While October is usually the month when importations surge due to the holiday demand, jitters caused by the swift changes at the agency have affected our collections,” Customs Commissioner Rozzano Rufino Biazon said.
The bureau has recently seen much personnel movement, including the appointment of new deputy commissioners and collectors and the transfer of key staff to the Customs Policy Research Office under the Department of Finance.
“But as the situation stabilizes, we are optimistic that our revenue growth will rebound to double-digit level. Note that despite the changes that have occurred of late, we managed to keep our collections on the positive level,” Biazon said.
To date, six of the BOC’s 17 collection districts are on track to meet their 2013 targets. These are the ports of Iloilo, Cebu, Cagayan de Oro, Davao, Subic and Clark. Another five are within single-digit percentage levels of their respective full-year collection targets.
For November and December, the DBCC has set a BOC collection target of P31.057 billion and P27.998 billion, respectively. For the full year 2013, the goal is P304 billion.
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