This is the fourth month that the Bureau of Customs (BOC) was not able to meet its collection target. The last time it was able to achieve its goal was in June.
For October, the bureau has collected P31.8 billion which is 26 percent off its P43.002 billion goal.
According to BOC “12 out of 17 ports did not meet their targets as of the 3rd week of October.”
Port of Manila was down by 30 percent from its monthly goal while Batangas port was below 22 percent. There is no record yet of the total collection amount.
From January to October, its collection reached P299 billion, 16 percent lower than last year’s P299.95 billion collection for 10 months.
BOC commissioner Alberto Lina said on Tuesday that the decline in oil prices greatly affected their collections. The bureau had lost some P50 to P70 billion due to low oil prices.
30 percent of their collections come from oil revenue. And because of this, they are “closely monitoring the valuation in oil, steel and rice” to make sure that the right amount of taxes are collected.
The BOC has been assigned a P436.5 billion collection target for 2015. It did not meet its goal last year which was P408 billion. It only reached P369 billion in 2014.
The target budget for 2016 is P498.7 billion but Lina thinks this is “too high.” He told reporters that the bureau might ask the Development Budget Coordination Committee to revise the said target next year for a large amount of their revenue comes from oil imports.
Lina also said that they are hoping for the passage of the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act (CMTA). It is still pending in the senate.
Lina said that bill could be passed hopefully before Christmas and that it could serve as the President’s early Christmas gift to them. The CMTA could help BOC boost its collections, he added.
The CMTA bill aims to enhance the bureau’s electronic trade facilitation to reduce avenues for corruption on man to man transactions.
Sources: Philippine Star, Manila Times
