Customs exceeds revenue target in August by over P2B

The Bureau of Customs (BOC) on Tuesday announced that it posted a revenue surplus of P2.326 billion for the month of August, adding that the agency improved its collection performance.

The bureau aims to exceed its monthly target for seven consecutive months.

According to the BOC, the revenue collection for August reached P51.739 billion, which was higher by 4.7 percent of its collection target of P49.31 billion.

Customs chief Isidro Lapeña said that the August collection was 35.1 percent higher compared to the P38.289 billion collection in the same period in 2017.

A total of 15 collection districts have contributed to the "positive" revenue collection performance:

• Port of Batangas collected P12.716 billion, up by 11.2 percent or P1.276 billion;
• Port of Manila collected P7.810 billion, up by 5.1 percent or P382 million;
• Port of Limay collected P3.435 billion, up by 14.2 percent or P428 million;
• Port of NAIA collected P3.106 billion, up by 0.2 percent or P6 million;
• Port of Cebu collected P2.513 billion, up by 12.9 percent or P286 million;
• Port of Davao collected P2.401 billion, up by 51.4 percent or P815 million;
• Port of Cagayan de Oro collected P1.913 billion, up by 37.1 percent or P517 million;
• Port of San Fernando collected P397 million, up by 47 percent or P127 million;
• Port of Iloilo collected P378 million, up by 41.1 percent or P110 million;
• Port of Clark collected P147 million, up by 13.1 percent or P17 million;
• Port of Tacloban collected P102 million, up by 363.4 percent or P80 million;
• Port of Legaspi collected P33 million; up by 40 percent or P9.5 million;
• Port of Zamboanga collected P24 million, up by 1.2 percent or P300,000;
• Port of Aparri collected P7 million, up by 43.7 percent or P2 million; and
• Port of Surigao collected P2 million, up by 46.6 percent or P700,000

Meanwhile, BOC noted that the Manila International Container Port (MICP) and the Port of Subic did not reach their collection targets of P15.327 billion and P1.778 billion, respectively.

The MICP only had a total collection of P14.782 billion while the Port of Subic collected P1.478 billion.

The BOC said that the consistent high revenue performance could be attributed to the higher exchange rate, increased oil price in the market, proper valuation, strong enforcement and revenue enhancing measures, and the one-strike policy of the agency.

The agency has so far collected a total of P384.3 billion revenue from January to August, which was four percent up against the P283.56 billion collection last year. —Anna Felicia Bajo/NB, GMA News