THE BUREAU of Customs (BoC) on Thursday said it exceeded its May collection target by a fifth due to improved valuation and collection efforts as the economy continues to rebound.
In a statement, the bureau said it collected P68.245 billion in May, surpassing the P56.478-billion target by 21%.
May marked the fifth month in a row that Customs has exceeded its monthly collection goals.
Last month’s Customs collection was 38% higher than the same month in 2021.
Citing a preliminary report from the BoC-Finance Service, the bureau said 15 of the 17 collection districts surpassed their monthly target.
These were the ports of San Fernando, Manila, Batangas, Legazpi, Iloilo, Cebu, Tacloban, Cagayan de Oro, Zamboanga, Davao, Subic, Clark, Aparri and Limay, as well as the Manila International Container Port (MICP).
For the first five months, the BoC collected P322.472 billion, nearly half or 47.5% of the P679.226 billion full-year target.
“Among the factors that contributed to the positive performance of the BoC since January this year include the improved valuation, intensified collection efforts, measures preventing revenue leakage and the recovering economy of the country,” the bureau said.
The BoC said it continued to implement border security measures against “undervaluation, misdeclaration and other forms of technical smuggling and collect lawful revenues.”
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 revenues generated amid the pandemic in 2020. — K.B.Ta-asan