The Philippine Bureau of Customs (BOC) posted revenue collections of P369.314 billion for 2014, 21% higher than the P304.926 billion posted in 2013 but 9.5% short of the P408.097-billion target.
For December alone, revenue reached P38.142 billion, a surge of 60.3% from P23.796 billion recorded year-on-year.
BOC noted that cash collections grew 14% despite the decline in value of crude and petroleum products by 38% and 23%, respectively, as a result of the fall in oil prices.
Tax expenditure funds (TEF) or non-cash collections recorded on paper for government transactions meanwhile posted growth of more than 100% arising from the collection of P11.012 billion from government accounts, mostly National Food Authority importations that further inflated the BOC collection for December.
Of BOC’s 17 port collection districts, Batangas, Iloilo, Cebu, Cagayan de Oro, Davao, Subic, and Aparri exceeded collection targets for 2014. The top contributor was the Manila International Container Port with P7.93 billion, followed by Batangas with P5.55 billion, then the Port of Manila with P4.29 billion.
For 2015, the Development Budget Coordination Committee has tasked BOC to collect a total of P456.468 billion, with P446.468 billion as the cash component. The 2015 amount is 11.9% higher than the 2014 goal.
For this year, MICP has the highest target of P123.13 billion. Batangas is next with P100.246 billion. The Port of Manila was tasked to collect P75.724 billion while Limay needs P47.835 billion to meet its target. – Roumina Pablo
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
