By Betheena Unite
The Bureau of Customs (BOC) bared Wednesday that it collected a total of P630.47 billion revenue in 2019 but failed to meet its annual goal.
Bureau of Customs (MANILA BULLETIN)
While the bureau fell short of its P661.04-billion collection target for last year by only achieving 95.4 percent, it has posted a P37-billion increase from the total annual collection in 2018.
According to the BOC-Financial Service, the bureau’s collection in 2019 grew by 6.3 percent from its 2018 revenue collection of P593-billion.
It was disclosed that nine out of 17 collection districts have reached their annual revenue collection targets. These are the Port of Limay with P56.332-billion revenue; Port of Cagayan de Oro with P34.540-billion revenue; Port of Subic with P32.373-billion revenue; Port of San Fernando with P4.237-billion revenue; Port of Iloilo with P3.406-billion revenue; Port of Tacloban with P1.425-billion revenue; Port of Zamboanga with P545-million revenue; Port of Legaspi with P510.26-million revenue; and Port of Aparri with P146.72-million revenue.
Three major ports --Manila International Container Port, Port of Batangas and Port of Manila-- failed to meet their respective targets but theycollected the highest revenues with P164.404 billion, P152.222 billion and P74.812 billion, respectively.
Other big ports which failed to reach their goals were Port of NAIA with P43.238-billion; Port of Cebu with P31.274 billion; Port of Davao withP27.986 billion; Port of Clark with P1.940 billion; and Port of Surigao with P19.43 million.
Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero attributed the improved collection to the bureau’s effort to institute systems innovation, such as the Goods Declaration Verification System (GDVS) and the National Value Verification System (NVVS), also helped the agency sustain its collection in 2019.
During the celebration of the 118th founding anniversary of the bureau, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez lauded the Customs bureau for its improved revenue collection required to make critical investments in quality infrastructure, healthcare, and education for the Filipino people.
Guerrero for his part thanked the men and women of the Bureau of Customs, as well as its partner agencies, for their continued support and cooperation which allowed them to achieve its targets and initiate programs geared towards improving efficiency and optimizing operations for better trade and collections.
This year, the bureau aims to collect a total of P751 billion, including the P20-billion target for tax refunds, Guerrero said.