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THE
BUREAU of Customs (BOC), government’s second-largest
collecting agency, has marginally exceeded its
collection target for April and broke a downward trend
since the start of the year.
Collections from its main ports, however, were still
down. The customs bureau needs to collect P254.47
billion for the whole year.
In a
statement, the BOC said it collected P21.76 billion for
April. The amount is some P30 million over its target,
thanks to some small ports that yielded higher
collection.
“Our
collections for April is also P4.56 billion, or 26.5
percent higher, than what was collected for the same
month last year,” Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales
said in the statement.
Preliminary collection reports showed that the Port of
Manila, the biggest collection point in the country,
yielded numbers that were down by P1.65 billion, and the
Port of Batangas, which mostly handles oil traffic, fell
short by P862 million.
Other
ports that yielded collections below target were Subic
Bay, which was short by P91 million; Tacloban, which was
down by P9.7 million; Surigao, down by P4.3 million;
Iloilo short by P1.6 million, and Zamboanga, down by P2
million.
The
bureau said only eight of its major ports surpassed
their targets. These were the Ninoy Aquino International
Airport, which surpassed its collection by P348 million,
and Cagayan de Oro, which exceeded it target by P113
million. Cebu coughed up P60 million and San Fernando
exceeded its target by P57 million.
The
Manila International Container Port, as well as the
ports of Legaspi, Davao and Clark Field, marginally
exceeded their targets, the bureau said.
Morales
said he is optimistic “April collections would trigger
the start of positive collections and higher monthly
surpluses for the rest of the year, and that BOC will be
able to recover the shortfall incurred in the first
quarter.”
Cumulative collections for the first four months of the
year reached P70.641 billion, or 4 percent short of the
P73.48-billion target.
The
bureau, however, added that collections from January to
April reflect P13.22 billion more than the figures a
year earlier.
The
bureau is gearing up to reshuffle district collectors, a
yearly move that is part of an effort to curb corruption
among its ranks. Morales said this would affect all 15
districts irrespective of their collection performance. |
