'Very good': House tax panel chief wowed by BOC's high collection
Albay 2nd district Rep. Joey Salceda (Rep. Salceda's office)
"Hindi lang good ha, very good (Not just good, very good)." That's how House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman and Albay 2nd district Rep. Joey Salceda described the recent performance of the Bureau of Customs (BOC), which he hailed for its high collection for the month of April. "Before we start our committee hearing for today, please allow me to congratulate the tax collection agencies for very good revenue collection performance. Hindi lang good ha, very good (Not just good, very good)," Salceda said in a manifestation before his panel Wednesday, May 3. Salceda congratulated the BOC, led by its commissioner, Bienvenido Rubio, "for once again exceeding its revenue collection targets for the month of April 2023". "The BOC collected P68.274 billion last month, exceeding its target of P68.199 billion," noted the economist-solon. "This suggests that, despite uncertain global conditions, our tax collection agencies are exceeding expectations and are working hard to earn the lifeblood of Philippine government," the Bicolano said. The BOC had also recorded last April 28 its biggest single-day collection ever to the tune of P7.510 billion. The figure was P1.436 billion or 23.64 percent higher than the previous single-day record of P6.074 billion, which was achieved on Oct. 14, 2022. According to Rubio, the first four months of 2023 has resulted to a collection of P281.902 billion, which was 6.29 percent or P16.682 billion higher than its target of P265.220 billion. The figure was also 10.89 percent higher than the P254.226 billion collected from January to April 2022. Meanwhile, Salceda also praised to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), which he said is projected to collect a record P301 billion in April alone. This is a 25 percent uptick from the P239.6-billion collection during the same month last year.