THE inter-agency Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) has reduced the collection goal of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) for this year and next after the agency failed to hit its targets in the past months.

Customs Commissioner Rozzano Rufino Biazon said on Wednesday the agency’s target for the year has been reduced to P278 billion, or P2 billion lower than 2010’s goal. The original collection target was P320 billion.

“We’re applying the reduction of the targets for the entire year, so our monthly collection shortfall would also be reduced,“ Biazon said.  

The reduction will be on cash collections; the tax-expenditure fund or the paper revenues from the importation of other government agencies were retained.

The BOC’s collection shortfall for the eight-month period starting January has already reached P24.24 billion. It is equivalent to more than a month’s worth of BOC collections.

For next year, the BOC’s target was also reduced to P315 billion from P365.1 billion

Biazon said the targets of the revenue-collecting agencies was reviewed by DBCC’s technical group

The DBCC does not normally reduce the target of revenue-collecting agencies as this would affect other data, but Biazon was able to convince the body after he assumed as BOC chief last month.

The BIR’s collection goal of P940 billion was retained since it was able to hit the target with only a minimal shortfall in collections.

“As far as I know, the reduction of target is only for the BOC,” Biazon said, adding that he also does not want the targets to be “too realistic” as this will not push the BOC’s personnel to collect more.

“We need to always challenge ourselves. Our goal is to attain the target [collections],” Biazon said.

The DBCC sets the target collections of revenue agencies, such as the BOC and BIR, both of which accounts for more than 90 percent of government collections. The body based its decision on several other factors, such as inflation rate, gross domestic product expectations, foreign exchange rate and interest rate, among other things. 

President Aquino has ordered Biazon to work on achieving the revenue target, go after erring employees and importers, work within the law, and follow the chain of command.

Former Customs Commissioner Angelito Alvarez previously said the agency may only collect some P295 billion for the year; P30 billion of the hoped-for collection is expected to be lost as a result of the country’s compliance with free-trade agreements and the appreciation of the peso. The latter alone resulted in a P4-billion revenue cut for the bureau.