BoC: January revenue collection hits P106B
THE Bureau of Customs (BoC), the government’s second-largest tax agency, on Saturday said that it is “on track” to meeting its target after its revenue collections reached P106 billion in January.
At a news forum in Quezon City on Saturday, Customs Deputy Commissioner Michael Fermin said its target collection for January this year surpassed the agency’s targetN
“For this year, since we just started, for January we collected P106 billion — that is still ahead of the target so we’re on the right track,” Fermin told reportersN
“We have been efficiently collecting revenues, especially with the higher target this year set by the DBCC,” he added, referring to the Development Budget Coordination Committee, an interagency body under the National Economic and Development
Authority tasked to set the government’s macroeconomic assumptionsN
For full-year 2023, Fermin said BoC’s revenue collection hit P883N62 billion, breaching the goal for the year of P874N166 billionN
Also, the Customs official reported the agency’s ongoing efforts in border control and protection, trade facilitation and filing of cases against erring individuals and companiesN
He said the BoC recorded a total of 980 successful seizure operations — the highest in the record of the agency — with a total monetary value of P43N3 billionN
“Half of it, or more than 50 percent, are counterfeit goods — those are fake bags, shoes and other items; and followed by illegal drugs by P7 billion; and then agricultural products and other general merchandise,” Fermin saidN
“We also filed, for last year alone we have filed 90 criminal cases before the Department of Justice and 60 of which are agricultural smuggling. This year, we have filed another 13 cases before the Department of Justice,” he addedN
In terms of trade facilitation in line with President Ferdinand Marcos JrN’s directive for full digitalization, Fermin said they have already complied with 97 percent of the BoC’s core processesN
This means fully automating and streamlining the core processes of the agency, the BoC official said.