Transport agencies miss collection goals

BY MARICEL E. ESTAVILLO, BusinessWorld Reporter Of the five agencies under the Department of Transportation and Communications (DoTC), the Air Transportation Office (ATO) and the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) posted declines in their year-on-year collections of fees and charges for the full year of 2005 and as of end-August last year. According to the House of Representatives oversight committee’s latest assessment report on the revenue collection performance of government agencies and government-owned and -controlled corporations, or GOCCs, ATO and Marina missed their targets for 2005 by 2.5% and 8%, respectively. Low rates For 2005, ATO posted total collections of P2.031 billion from P2.23 billion in previous year. As of end of August last year, ATO collected P1.403 billion in fees and charges, short of its target of P3.064 billion. Marina, on the other hand, collected P203.36 million in fees and charges in 2005, a decline from P215.63 million collected in the previous year. As of August last year, Marina collected P140.5 million in fees and charges, short of its target of P223 million. The House report noted the lackluster collection could be due partly to the low rates of fees and charges — a problem among most DoTC agencies — which have not been adjusted for years, dating back to 1999 for some of the fees. Citing the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) as an example, the oversight committee said the agency’s franchise fee for buses has remained at P510 per bus for the past five years. "Given that the issuance of franchises is close to its saturation point, an increase in fees for the issuance of renewal of franchises becomes an imperative," the report read. Leakage Furthermore, the committee said leakages in collections have been exacerbated by the lack of computerized monitoring and collection in the agencies which registered declining year-on-year collection. "The LTFRB and LTO [Land Transportation Office], for example, lack computer data. They cannot accurately estimate the number of unregistered vehicles which ply our streets," the report read. But other DoTC agencies exceeded their annual fees and charges targets, according to the report. For the full year of 2005, LTO increased year-on-year collection to P9.4 billion from P8.83 billion in 2004, National Telecommunications Commission (NTC)’s total collection increased to P2.27 billion from P1.5 billion, and LTFRB’s to P503.32 million from P461.77 million. Unstable collections The same report noted that the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) exceeded its annual targets from 2001 to 2005. In 2005, for instance, PPA’s actual collection was P5.92 billion, compared with a target of P5.601 billion. "While, on the average, the revenue collections of GOCCs have manifested relative instability, the collections of the PPA have always exceeded annual targets," the report read. Another GOCC under DoTC, Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), has fallen below target since 2003, according to the report. As of end-August last year, MIAA collected P3.935 billion, compared with a target of P4.599 billion. MIAA attributed its failure to achieve collection targets to the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome in 2003, which supposedly scared potential tourists from travelling to Southeast Asia, as well as a legal battle over fees charged to airlines. Except for PPA, the report said all the other GOCCs fell short of their collection targets in the years 2000, 2002, 2003 and 2004. During these years, collections averaged 79.98% of target. Only in 2001 and 2005 did actual collections of GOCCs exceed targets, estimated at 92% of programmed collections. Decreasing trend Moreover, the report said collections from fees and charges by these agencies have decreased by an average of 0.056% since 2001. This, despite the issuance of EO 197 and EO 218 which directed all government agencies to increase their fees and charges by not less than 20%. The biggest decrease in collections from fees and charges occurred in 2003, when collections dipped to P18.6 billion, 15% lower than the previous year. Collections slightly improved in 2004, increasing by 5% from the previous year’s collection, only to again decrease by 3% in 2005. The report said the decrease in collections of fees and charges can be attributed to the high rate of noncompliance to EO Nos. 197 and 218. As of last year, only 67% of the 132 national government agencies had increased fees and charges, while 33% of such agencies had yet to make the necessary adjustments in their rates.