Two Bureau of Customs (BOC) ports have raked in a combined P837 million from the public auctions of forfeited imported goods in 2014.
In a news statement released on Friday, the BOC said the revenue collected by Port of Manila (POM) and the Manila International Container Port (MICP) also made up around 95 percent of the total auction revenue amounting to P885 million in the same year.
Aside from the said ports, other collection districts that contributed to the bureau’s 2014 auction revenue included the Ports of Cebu with P48 million, Subic with P636, 679 and the Ninoy Aquino International port with P43,000.
The MICP generated a total of P580 million from a record 17 public auctions last year, up 346 percent from the P130-million auction revenue target for 2014.
The increase in the auction proceeds was attributed to the sale of over 300 container vans of rice in September last year, which earned over P393 million.
On the other hand, the POM generated sale amounting to P257 million from six public auctions, or 150 percent more than the revenue target of P103 million. The biggest contributor was the auction of about 109,500 sacks, amounting to P161 million last October.
“Aside from raising revenues for the government, the public auctions of forfeited goods has also helped in decongesting the ports,” Customs Commissioner John Sevilla said.
“We will continue to expedite the disposition of forfeited shipments in the coming months,” he said.
Meanwhile, the BOC-Port of Cagayan de Oro is set to auction off over 33,000 sacks of seized smuggled rice on Wednesday. The sale is expected to generate a minimum of P70.5 million in revenue.
PNA