Nine of the 17 customs collection districts have hit their revenue targets for 2019, according to the Bureau of Customs (BOC).
These ports were Limay with P56.332 billion; Cagayan de Oro with P34.540 billion; Subic with P32.373 billion; San Fernando with P4.237 billion; Iloilo with P3.406 billion; Tacloban with P1.425 billion; Zamboanga with P545 million; Legazpi with P510.26 million; and Aparri with P146.72 million.
Although falling short of their 2019 targets, the Manila International Container Port, Batangas Port, and Port of Manila collected the highest revenues with P164.404 billion, P152.222 billion, and P74.812 billion, respectively.
Of the remaining ports, Ninoy Aquino International Airport collected P43.238 billion; Cebu, P31.274 billion; Davao, P27.986 billion; Clark, P1.940 billion; and Surigao, P19.43 million.
BOC collected P630.571 billion in revenue in 2019, or 6.3% higher than the P593 billion earned in 2018 but 6.9% lower than the P677-billion target for the year.
READ: Customs collection falls 7% behind target for 2019
The 2019 revenue collection is net of the P638.979-billion collection after deducting the tax refund worth P8.687 billion, BOC assistant commissioner and spokesperson Atty. Vincent Philip Maronilla earlier said.
Aside from the efforts of collection districts, Maronilla said contributors to the 2019 revenue collection were revenues collected from issued alert orders amounting to more than P40.9 million, from post-clearance audits worth more than P2 billion, and from public auctions valued at P527.957 billion.
The BOC executive explained that the bureau did not hit its annual target as some macroeconomic assumptions, upon which the assigned target was based, were not achieved.
Maronilla said cargo volumes were down last year, and the Philippine peso was stronger than the US dollar.
Moreover, the implementation of the fuel marking program, which was supposed to contribute an additional P10 billion to the target, was moved to February 2020.
Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero last November 2019 said that while BOC was not expected to meet the 2019 revenue collection target, he was confident the agency would surpass the 2018 collection.
For 2020, BOC is tasked to collect P731 billion and an additional P20 billion in tax refund for a total of P751 billion, Guerrero said.
