MANILA, Philippines -- The acting customs district collector of the Port of Batangas is protesting her impending transfer to a less sensitive position in the Bureau of Customs for failing to meet what she described were unrealistic collection targets.

Gracia Caringal, in a press statement, also disputed the claim of Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales that she was a “non-performing asset,” citing the port’s sterling collection record since she took over in 2006.

She said requests to correct the 2007 collection targets “fell on deaf ears.”

While admitting that Batangas fell short of the collection target last year by P6.7 billion, Caringal said this was because higher officials had arbitrarily raised the port’s target by a staggering 57.7 percent without explanation.

In contrast, she said, the targets of some major ports increased by as low as 1.27 percent to a maximum of 17.51 percent and other ports even had their targets decreased against 2006 levels.

Unreachable

She cited the Cebu port, whose target was decreased by 10.51 percent and the Manila International Container Port whose target was reduced by 3.38 percent. She also said the collection target of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport increased by only 1.27 percent.

“The port of Batangas was unfairly given a collection target that was not meant to be reached,” Caringal said.

In contrast, she said, eight other ports—San Fernando, Manila, MICP, NAIA, Cebu, Surigao, Cagayan de Oro and Davao—were given reduced targets.

Peso-dollar factor

In her letter to Morales last January, Caringal said there was a need to revise the target assigned to the Port of Batangas because of the appreciation of the peso against the dollar. While the 2007 target was based on an exchange rate of P48 to the dollar, the peso broke the 41-1 rate last year. On top of this, the average volume and value of oil products that went through the port also went down from 2006 levels. Compounding this, she cited the “inescapable reality” of the oil tariff reduction as anathema to the port’s collection.

Caringal said that in assigning her to the commissioner’s office without specific duty or position, Morales in effect placed her in the freezer.

He was quoted in media reports as saying that Caringal was being moved to a less sensitive position because “she has been a non-performing asset for the past year or so.”

Caringal said the increase in the Batangas port’s collection target had no basis and that Bureau of Customs had failed to justify the whopping 57 percent increase imposed on her.

She said she inquired into the bureau’s basis for the increased target and that bureau officials never bothered to reply to her.