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The Bureau of Customs (BOC) is seeking an 18.9% hike in its 2025 budget to P5.66 billion
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The proposed appropriation is a “meager amount compared to its target collection of P1.06 trillion next year”, DOF said
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Under BOC’s proposed budget, personnel services have an allocation of P1.9 billion; maintenance and other operating expenses, P1.144 billion; and capital outlay, P742.868 million
The Bureau of Customs (BOC) is seeking an 18.9% hike in its 2025 budget to P5.66 billion, according to Finance Secretary Ralph Recto.
The proposed appropriation is a “meager amount compared to its target collection of P1.06 trillion next year,” the Department of Finance (DOF) said in a statement.
During a Senate Committee on Finance budget hearing for the DOF and its attached agencies, Recto noted the hike in the BOC budget is only equivalent to the agency’s 48-hour collection over two days.
Under BOC’s proposed budget, Recto said its personnel services has an allocation of P1.9 billion to cover the salaries of 3,736 permanent positions and an additional P164.1 million allocated for retirement and life insurance premiums. The proposed 2025 budget for personnel services is 5% higher than the P1.8-billion budget for this year.
The proposed maintenance and other operating expenses budget of P1.144 billion, 13.22% up year-on-year, will support the implementation of the customs revenue enhancement program and the customs border protection and cargo control program.
The capital outlay requirement of P742.868 million for next year, meanwhile, is 586.34% more than the P108.236 million this year. Recto said this will fund the acquisition of 17 service vehicles, investments in various information and communications technology and office equipment, and the construction of the second phase of the new BOC building at the Iloilo Commercial Port Complex.
For digitalization initiatives, DOF is proposing a budget of P4.811 billion, of which P997.414 million is allocated for BOC.
READ: Recto urges BIR, BOC to accelerate digitization
Customs Commissioner Bienvenido Rubio, during the same Senate hearing, said the P997-million budget will account for several projects, including collection districts’ structured cabling and wireless infrastructure, the BOC fraud analytics, regional data center, the supply and delivery of desktop computers, internet and various software subscriptions, various training, and procurement of printers and external hard drives.
BOC sister agency BIR will account for the bulk or P2.762 billion of the total for digitalization investments, while the Insurance Commission gets P492 million and the rest shared by other DOF-attached agencies.
Recto said investment in digitalization initiatives “are aimed at significantly enhancing taxpayer experience, streamlining trade processes, and improving fiscal transparency.”
