The Port of Manila (POM), one of the Bureau of Customs’ (BOC) biggest collection districts, surpassed its monthly collection targets for four months in a row from April to July 2018, a first after nine years of failing to hit targets for more than three consecutive months.
POM collected P7.68 billion in July 2018, 2.12% higher than the P7.5 billion target for the month; P7.76 billion in June 2018, 8.09% more than the P7.18 billion goal; P8.08 billion in May 2018, up 6.20% against the P7.6 billion target; and P7.42 billion in April, 6.23% higher than the P6.98 billion target, according to a report by Nancy Reyes of the POM Collection Division.
Moreover, the port also registered its highest daily collection of P630 million in May 17, 2018, breaking the recorded highest daily collection in December last year.
BOC in a statement attributed the positive collection performance of POM to the robust revenue collection from steel, motor vehicle, alcohol, and tobacco products. Other factors that contributed to the increase were a weaker peso, proper customs valuation, and the strengthened campaign against illegal trade.
“The Port managed to continuously meet and surpass its monthly collection target through hard work and cooperation among our personnel as well as the active participation of our stakeholders,” POM district collector Atty. Erastus Sandino Austria said.
Overall improvment in collection
Aside from POM, other BOC collection districts have been exceeding their monthly targets for consecutive months this year.
BOC recently reported that in July 2018, it exceeded its monthly revenue collection target for six straight months, after 15 out of its 17 collection districts surpassed their revenue targets for the month.
Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapeña is optimistic BOC will hit its 2018 target of P598 billion.
