The Bureau of Customs (BOC) has collected more than P3 billion in daily revenue for two consecutive days last September, a first in the agency’s history, based on a preliminary report by its Financial Service.
BOC collected P3.317 billion and P3.194 billion on September 28 and 29, respectively. The P3-billion collection for only one day “is the first in the collection performance history of the bureau,” BOC said in a statement.
The agency also recorded a total cash collection of P39.545 billion for September, its highest achievement for a single month.
The agency noted that there were previous monthly cash collections that were higher than P39.545 billion but these included the tax expenditure fund (TEF), which is revenue collected from government importations not paid in actual cash but instead credited by BOC from the concerned agencies’ budgets.
“The Bureau is happy to report that we were able to make significant improvements in terms of collection. We were looking at the financial reports dating back 2010, and our director for financial service, Cecile Soriano, reported that indeed this is the first in BOC history, even if we reviewed records farther back 2010,” Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapeña said.
The customs chief attributed the improved collection performance in September 2017 to the 20.92% increase in valuation compared to the same period last year.
BOC said it collected duties and taxes last month based on the total dutiable value of imports amounting to P420.205 million, as compared to the assessed dutiable value of P347.505 million in the same month in 2016. This, BOC noted, is despite the higher percentage of non-dutiable imports of 84.5% from 81.2% in 2016.
Lapeña earlier directed all district collectors, examiners, and appraisers to apply the correct valuation instead of benchmarking.
The September 2017 figures also indicate a year-on-year increase of 14.71% in the volume of imports. Last month, BOC recorded 9.755 million kilograms of imports, up from 8.504 million kg in the same period last year.
A preliminary collection report showed that despite the three non-working holidays in September, BOC managed to collect P40.150 billion against the monthly target of P41.753 billion.
Lapeña earlier said that BOC needs to collect P50.1 billion per month from September to December in order to hit the full-year target of P467.896 billion.
“We will try our best, and I am optimistic that we will be able to fully hit our target by year-end,” Lapeña said.
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