The Bureau of Customs (BOC) is confident of hitting its target collection for 2018 on the basis of efforts to reform agency processes and the reshuffling of some of its employees to further cut down red tape.
According to BOC Commissioner Isidro S. Lapeña, the strong bureau performance in the July-to-September quarter last year when he became customs commissioner showed great improvement in terms of revenue growth.
For 2017 the BOC posted a 97.8-percent growth in performance with revenue cash collections amounting to P457.63 billion. This fell short by 2.2 percent from the agency’s target for the year.
The Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) earlier set for the BOC a P467.90-billion collection target for 2017 and another P637.1 billion for 2018.
“As far as I am concerned, that’s a very good performance on our side considering that it’s just within four months. We almost hit our target. We just lacked 2.2 percent,” Lapeña said at the flag-raising ceremony on Monday.
The BOC posted revenue collection amounting to around P41 billion during September 2017 when Lapeña took over the agency, P42 billion for October, P46 billion for November and P44 billion during the last month of the year. The collections were pointed out to be the highest in terms of average monthly collections by the bureau.
“We were able to do it in the last four months of the year. It’s still not perfect but we are hitting it right already. If we are able to correct our operations, then I am confident that we will reach our target [for 2018],” he said.
The customs chief further said a stronger BOC Internal Affairs and Integrity Unit would be put in place this year. The unit is responsible for investigating bureau personnel reported involved in corrupt acts.
He added that a reshuffling of personnel would continuously be pursued to ensure all BOC employees comply with the agency’s mandate and help boost revenue collections.
“You expect a major reshuffle coming your way. We know you and there will be a movement. And I will continue doing that. It’s for us to do things the right way. I have moved 641 people. I don’t like to do it but I am going to do it,” he said.
The prime mandate of the second-highest revenue-generating agency is collect customs revenue from imported goods and to suppress smuggling and other customs fraud.
Image credits: Nonie Reyes