THE BUREAU of Customs (BoC) Port of Davao has already reached its collection goal for the year as of Wednesday, Dec. 19.
In a statement, the BoC said the Port of Davao has collected P25.3 billion so far, 25% higher than the P20.1 billion target for 2018.
It is also 54% higher than the P16.4 billion collected for full year 2017.
“We are looking at around P5.5 billion in surplus by the end of 2018,” Port of Davao District Collector Romalino G. Valdez was quoted as saying.
“The Port of Davao takes to heart that hitting our collection target means assurance that every infrastructure, health, educational, economic, and financial project of the government will be well funded,” he added.
“Hitting our collection target was also made possible through the help of the BoC stakeholders and the individual taxpayers. I would like to thank them for their contribution to the funding of the projects of the government,” said Mr. Valdez.
The ports of Cebu and Tacloban have also hit their 2018 collection target as of mid-December.
The BoC earlier said the depreciation of the peso and the increase in global fuel prices have also helped them grow their revenues.
The Customs bureau also revised downwards its collection target for the year by P10 billion to P584.9 billion from P594.9 billion initially, due to the delayed implementation of the fuel marking program.
The fuel marking program is mandated under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion law that took effect in January this year.
In a bid to curb smuggling, the program mandates that fuel should be marked with dyes to prove proper taxes have already been paid, before it is released from Customs ports, or warehouses, to the market.
The government has already awarded the contract in October and the Department of Finance expects it to be rolled out in 2019.
As of October based on the Bureau of the Treasury’s cash operations report, total BoC collections stood at P490.6 billion, 34% higher from P366.7 billion in the same period last year. — Elijah Joseph C. Tubayan

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