Customs collects more but still short of target

Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—For the 10th month in a row, the Bureau of Customs has failed to meet its revenue collection target, according to the latest report of the bureau’s Statistical Analysis Division.

According to the report, the bureau collected P28.37 billion in October, more than the P26.93 billion it collected in the same month last year, but this was still P2.12 billion short of  its target of P30.5 billion for the month.

From January to October, the bureau’s collections totaled P252.84 billion, P87.16 billion off its target of P340 billion. The amount was also still short of what Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon called the BOC’s “internal motivational milestone mark” of P300 billion.

Biazon had expressed confidence last month that “with a little more push, we’ll reach P300 billion.”

“Like a marathon where runners have kilometer marks for how far they have gone, we also have our internal motivational milestone mark of P300 billion….That will be the first time the bureau will collect such a high amount. With the positive performance that we have, we’re encouraged that we can make it,” he said.

In its Collection Performance Report, the bureau disclosed that its revenue collections in January totaled P24.54 billion, followed by P22.47 billion in February, P21.8 billion in March, P27.13 billion in April, P25.92 billion in May, P23.25 billion in June, P27.67 billion in July, P26.06 billion in August, and P25.57 billion in September.

Biazon had admitted that the bureau would most likely miss its 2013 collection target, citing sluggish international trade, globalization and trade liberalization, among other factors.

“Considering the slowdown of imports, we are not positive on meeting the P340-billion target,” he told reporters. He blamed the state of the world’s economy and continuing corruption for the low collection.

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