THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) has achieved another milestone as it exceeded its assigned revenue collection target for 2021 by more than P29 billion, despite the lingering negative effect to the economy of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Comm. Rey Leonardo Guerrero, in an approved statement on Monday, January 3, 2022, said preliminary figures from the Revenue Collection Monitoring Group (RCMG) said the surplus collection is equivalent to a 4.7 percent positive deviation from its assigned target of P616.749 billion.

“Actual cash collection reached P645.765 billion, which is some P29.1 billion more than our assigned target,” the customs chief said.

Assistant Commissioner and concurrent BOC spokesman, Atty. Vincent Maronilla, further noted that last year’s collection is even higher by some P15 billion, compared to the bureau’s assigned target of P630.1 billion in 2019, prior to the advent of the pandemic.

In 2020, as the pandemic rages that resulted to a near halt to economic activities for most of the year, the BOC also managed to surpass its adjusted target of P506.2 billion, after recording actual cash collection of P539.763 billion, Maronilla noted further.

For the month of December, Maronilla said the BOC also exceeded its monthly revenue target by 20.8 percent, with a total of P62.478 billion collection against its month-target of P51.705billion.

He added that 13 out of the bureau’s 17 collection districts exceeded their annual targets for 2021, namely:

Port of Subic, San Fernando, Port of Manila, MICP, Port of NAIA, Port of Batangas, Port of Legaspi, Port of Iloilo, Port of Surigao, Port Zamboanga, Port of Davao, Port of Clark and Port of Limay.

In a brief message, Guerrero once again commended the collective efforts of the men and women of the bureau, “who, despite the risks to their health and safety, showed unwavering commitment and dedication to service”

AUTHOR PROFILE

Paul M. Gutierrez