Customs surpasses May collection goal

MANILA, Philippines - For the month of May, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) achieved a collection surplus of P1.2 billion.

BOC Commissioner Napoleon Morales said that for May the bureau collected P24.577 billion against a target of P23.36.

Collections of the agency’s Tax Expenditure Fund (TEF), or the rice imported by the National Food Authority (NFA), went up to P5.57 billion as against the goal of only P3.7 billion. The surplus in TEF is about 51 percent of the target.

 “It’s a good performance overall because the (target) volume of imports has materialized for the month,” Morales said in a previous interview.

Last year the agency posted a surplus of P4.77 billion or 24 percent higher than target. In May last year, the agency had a cash collection of only P15.03 billion, while TEF was at P3.92 billion.

Morales said he would be turning over the bureau with surplus collection to the next commissioner.

Morales, who had been the bureau’s commissioner for four years and five months, earlier said: “I am preparing for the next commissioner. I don’t want to rush my moving out. When I came here, the commissioner’s office was empty, so I am leaving it the way it is. I never made any changes in the room, except for the overhead lights of the sofa, because I knew that this office is not mine to keep.”

“I serve at the pleasure of the president and this is also a way of showing respect to the incoming president who would choose the next Commissioner. I would just wait for my replacement,” he added.

He said, the job of commissioner of customs is “a very tedious job. Of all the agencies of the government, the most tedious job is being the Customs commissioner. So as I said, whoever will replace me I will only say good luck and that he should be prepared for criticism and the performance (expected of him). He should also be physically and mentally fit.”