Customs collection up in 4th quarter

CUSTOMS collections during the fourth quarter in 2010 continue to soar higher than the previous quarter and significantly, its percentage is higher during the last three months in 2009.

The National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) in Northern Mindanao said the P1.2 billion collections during the last quarter of 2010 was 11 percent higher than that of the third quarter of the same year and 37 percent advantage against the last quarter of 2009.

The Neda report revealed the Mindanao Container Terminal (MCT) in Misamis Oriental sustained its position as the major trading port in the region, gaining 251 percent increase in customs collection during last quarter of 2010 performance against the same period in 2009.

The MCT collections that stood at almost a billion in collection in 2009 went up by 15 percent to P2.2 billion in 2010, the Neda data showed.

The report said this has affected the performance of the Cagayan de Oro port whose collection plunged by 23 percent.

Except for Cagayan de Oro, annual customs collections of more than P4 billion in 2010, which was almost 16 percent above its 2009 performance, in all ports rocketed its collections led by Iligan port with 83 percent, a P120 million increase from P145 million in 2009 to P265 million in 2010, followed by Ozamiz port that stood at 56 percent.

However, during the fourth quarter in 2010, Ozamiz and Cagayan de Oro ports were unable to recover its performance against the previous quarters with a remarkable drop to 96 percent and 22 percent, respectively.