Monday, April 16, 2007 BOC-Cebu sees lower collections in April due to Holy Week break
ALTHOUGH the Bureau of Customs (BOC) Port of Cebu had a surplus collection of P117 million in the first quarter of 2007, the collection for the first 12 days of April is short of the target due to the Holy Week break.
District Collector Ricardo Belmonte, however, is hoping to be able to collect P24 million a day towards the end of the month to meet the P390 million target for April.
April has 30 days but with only 18 working days—excluding Saturdays, Sundays and holidays—so BOC-Cebu needs to collect about P21,666,666.67 daily to meet the target.
Working days
However, the Port of Cebu was only able to collect P95,685,768 from April 1 to 12, which only had six working days.
The average daily target was increased to P24,526,166 because they still have to collect P294,314,232 from April 13 to 30, which only has 12 working days.
Reynante “Rics” Ricarte, assistant chief of assessment, said they are confident to meet the April target because there are importations which already arrived Cebu but importers have yet to pay duties and taxes.
Collectibles
He cited last week’s steel importations of Joyland Industries Inc. where they expect to collect about P15 million in duties and taxes.
Joyland, which used to import steel through the Manila International Container Port and the Port of Manila, is always in the list of the top 20 importers of the Port of Cebu.
According to BOC-Cebu records, it collected P23.4 million on Holy Monday, P21.9 million on Holy Tuesday but figures dropped to P13.020 million on Holy Wednesday.
Targets
After the Holy Week break, the Port of Cebu collected P11.6 million and P11.7 million.
Customs officials and personnel aim to meet the target collection because of the Attrition Law that took effect last January.
The law aims at rewarding the good performers and punishing those who cannot meet the revenue goal, chief of assessment Carlos Corciga said.
To meet their target for 2007, Corciga said they are also eyeing to collect the billions of pesos in unpaid duties and taxes from private firms and government agencies.
Obligations
He cited as example the P800 million tax obligations of Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corp., as per the Supreme Court order several years ago.
He said that the government agencies which have unpaid duties and taxes to BOC are the National Food Authority for its rice imports, Department of Agrarian Reform for its solar energy panels and wind turbine for the agrarian reform beneficiaries and the DOTC for its communication equipment. (EOB)
