SUBIC BAY FREEPORT—The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) announced on Monday a P2-billion revenue collection record at the Port of Subic in the first four months of this year, breaking last year’s aggregate collection of P1.6 billion for January to April by more than 25 percent.

According to a statement issued by the agency, Subic’s actual cash collections for the same period also showed a P30-million surplus when compared with the target set by the district office of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) here.

Last month the Port of Subic “easily surpassed the target of P622 million after coming up with P623 million, the highest monthly cash revenue so far this year,” the SBMA noted.

The highest monthly surplus on actual cash collections, however, was posted by Subic in January when collections exceeded that month’s target by P25.61 million, the SBMA also reported.

Meanwhile, revenue collections by the BOC also exceeded goals by P21.92 million in March and by P1.02 million in April, even as its actual cash collection fell short by P18.54 million in February.  

With this record, the SBMA said the Port of Subic remained among the six ports in the country that registered a revenue surplus, despite a nationwide shortfall of P3.3 billion in BOC collections, after total cash collections of P21.88 billion fell short by 13 percent of the P25.19-billion target.

The other ports that remained in the black were Limay in Bataan, which recorded a revenue surplus of P456 million; Davao, with a surplus of P39 million; Zamboanga, with P500,000; Legazpi, with P100,000; and Clark, with P10,000.

Aside from cash collections, the Subic BOC office also posted in January to April a total of P102.21 million in noncash collections derived from government-to-government transactions. This, however, was 97 percent lower than the P3.48-billion noncash revenue in the same period last year, the SBMA noted.

The agency also said cash collections in the Port of Subic are derived from duties and taxes paid for ship calls, transshipment operations and the importation of various inputs, including oil, motor vehicles and other general merchandise.

The SBMA added that the Port of Subic had started using the Enhanced Automated Cargo Transfer System (e-ACTS) since last year to establish faster, safer, synchronized and secure cargo transit between Subic Bay and other ports in the country like the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, the Port of Manila, and the International Container Port Terminal.