BoC Zamboanga Port exceeds Jan.-Feb. collection with increased rice, cement imports

THE BUREAU of Customs (BoC) at the Port of Zamboanga exceeded its revenue collection target in the first two months of the year following an increase in collection of duties and taxes from rice and cement importation. In a statement, the BoC reported that the Zamboanga office collected P60.7 million in January and more than P33.2 million in February, which have a combined total equivalent to the target for the first half of the year. Officer-in-charge District Collector Halleck A. Valdez said the high revenue collection was due to the continuous arrival of imported rice covered by importation permits under the Minimum Access Volume (MAV) scheme. He said at least five ships loaded with Vietnam Rice have unloaded their cargoes at Zamboanga Port in the last two months. A significant volume of imported cement products from Vietnam and China were also unloaded at the port, he added.