Customs exceeds April target

THE BUREAU of Customs (BoC) on Wednesday said it surpassed its April collection target by 20%, as the value of imported oil continued to climb.

In a statement, the BoC said it collected P65.7 billion in April, 19.6% higher than its P54.9-billion target for the month.

“The collection performance is attributed to the improved valuation, intensified enforcement against illegal importations, and the improved compliance by traders to customs laws,” BoC said.

April marked the fourth month in a row that Customs has exceeded its monthly collection goals.

Last month’s collection showed a 28% increase from the P51.28 billion collected in April 2021, but 7% lower than the record-high P70.72 billion logged in March.

BoC Spokesperson and Assistant Commissioner Vincent Philip Maronilla said the high volume and value of imported oil products only partly contributed to the increase in BoC collections in April.

“Our continued effort towards a more efficient and effective collection again proved to be the right formula,” he said via Viber message.

The BoC in March saw significantly higher collections from oil products after crude prices soared in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Citing a preliminary report from the BoC-Financial Service, the bureau said 14 of the 17 collection districts hit their targets in April.

These were the ports of San Fernando, Manila, Batangas, Legaspi, Iloilo, Cebu, Cagayan de Oro, Zamboanga, Davao, Subic, Clark, Aparri, and Limay, as well as the Manila International Container Port (MICP).

The strong collections in April pushed the four-month total to P253.62 billion, which makes up nearly 37% of the 2022 collection target of P679.226 billion.

“For the past 2 years, the BoC was able to surpass its annual target collection by +6.23% and +4.35% respectively even during a global health crisis,” it said.

In April, the BoC raised P6.3 million after an auction of luxury vehicles that were found to be undeclared.

Two vehicles, a used Mercedes SLK350 2001 and SLK55 2001 were sold to RMCE Metal Products Trading Corp., while a brand-new Mercedes Benz G500 was sold to Mopen Trading Corp.

Three other luxury vehicles were unsold, and will be auctioned at a later date.

In 2021, Customs collected P645.77 billion, 4.7% higher than its full-year target of P616.75 billion. This was also 20% higher than P537.69 billion in 2020, when the pandemic hampered supply chains. —