Customs needs to collect P1.4B daily to meet December target

Bureau of Customs officer-in-charge John Sevilla. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Saying “time is money,” Bureau of Customs officer-in-charge John Phillip Sevilla reminded the bureau’s frontline personnel on Tuesday that they have to collect at least P1.4 billion daily to meet the agency’s December revenue target of a little more than P28 billion.

The Department of Finance’s undersecretary for privatization, who has been tasked by President Aquino to oversee customs operations in the next two months, said on Tuesday that “we have to do the best we can in collecting the right customs duties.”

During the first 10 days of the month, the bureau’s revenues were “far below where we should be,” Sevilla told reporters.

When he assumed his new post on Monday, Sevilla asked customs officials and employees to review the agency’s major goals.

Aside from collecting the correct duties and taxes from traders, he also directed them to “stop smuggling, serve importers, exporters and other customs stakeholders well without expecting anything in return, and recover the pride [of the BOC], as well as the public’s trust.”

Sevilla vowed to “do my best in helping the Bureau of Customs meet all these goals” and said he welcomed “suggestions for better public service.”

In November, the Bureau of Customs collected more than P28 billion in revenues, bringing to over P280 billion the agency’s total collections in the past 11 months.

The January-to-November revenues, however, were still P40 billion short of the bureau’s 2013 collection target of P340 billion.

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