COLLECTION-WISE, the Bureau of Customs had a bad start this year.
Still, Customs Commissioner Rozanno Rufino Biazon said this year’s start was still better than last year’s.
He said that because of the Chinese New Year holiday and the slowdown of imports at the start of the year, the agency fell short of its P26-billion target for January by P3 billion.
But the commissioner said the agency’s collection last month was higher than that of the same month last year.
“The first month of the year is usually considered as weak period. But our collection [for January] was higher than last year’s,” Biazon said at the sidelines of the BOC’s 110th anniversary celebration on Monday.
“All other commodities have slowed down but the oil imports surged so our collection year-on-year was higher,” Biazon said.
In January last year, the agency collected P20.53 billion, higher than its target for the period at P20 billion.
In 2011, the BOC was given a target of P320 billion but internally, the agency used a reduced collection target of P276 billion. The reduced targets are being used to assess the performance of its district collectors.
According to preliminary estimates, the BOC collected P266 billion last year, P10 billion short of its internal target and deficit collection of P54 billion, compared with the P320-billion target.
This year, the agency was given a target of P347 billion by the interagency Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC).
Biazon said the reform programs of the Aquino administration have started to bear fruit, mainly from its enforcement activities.
In January, Biazon said that the agency’s Post Entry Audit Group (PEAG) collected P130 million, up by P50 million compared to last year’s.
In 2011, PEAG collected P490 million through the proper audit and voluntary disclosure of importers and businessmen.
More than half of this amount, or about P270 million, was collected when Biazon took over in September last year.
“As we celebrate the BOC’s 110th anniversary, I also count my 165th day in office as the bureau’s 35th commissioner. I will not shy away from saying that this has been the greatest challenge in my almost 20 years in public service,” Biazon said in his speech.
