The Bureau of Customs (BOC) missed its target revenue in 2019 by almost five percent, as eight of the 17 collection districts failed to hit their collection goals for the said year.
Citing the preliminary report of the BOC-financial service as of February 11, the BOC said in a statement yesterday it generated P630.47 billion in revenue in 2019, 4.6 percent below the programmed collection of P661.04 billion.
However, the amount is 6.3 percent higher than its 2018 revenue collection of P593 billion.
BOC data showed that nine out of the 17 districts have reached their annual collection targets: Port of Limay with P56.33 billion revenue; Port of Cagayan de Oro with P34.54 billion; Port of Subic with P32.37 billion; Port of San Fernando with P4.24 billion; Port of Iloilo with P3.41 billion; Port of Tacloban with P1.43 billion; Port of Zamboanga with P545 million; Port of Legaspi with P510.26 million; and Port of Aparri with P146.72 million.
Although the following ports fell short of the target for 2019, the BOC said the Manila International Container Port, Port of Batangas, and Port of Manila collected the highest revenues with P164.4 billion, P152.22 billion, and P74.81 billion, respectively.
Moreover, P43.24 billion was collected by the Port of NAIA; P31.27 billion in the Port of Cebu; P27.99 billion in the Port of Davao; P1.94 billion in the Port of Clark; and P19.43 million in the Port of Surigao.
“The bureau’s effort to institute systems innovation, such as the Goods Declaration Verification System and the National Value Verification System, also helped the agency sustain its collection in 2019,” the BOC said.
During the celebration of the 118th founding anniversary of the BOC last week, Carlos Dominguez, secretary of the Department of Finance, lauded the agency for its improved revenue collection required to make critical investments in quality infrastructure, health care, and education for the Filipino people. (A. Celis)
