DESPITE the effects of Covid-19 to the overall trading environment and a stringent community quarantine, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) has continued to showcase its consistent and positive monthly collection for the fourth month since June 2020. The BOC surpassed its monthly target collection in September 2020 by 33.17 percent or P12.511 billion.

In September, the BOC collected a total of P50.226 billion against its target of P37.715 billion.

Based on the preliminary report from the BOC-Financial Service, 14 of the 17 collection districts exceeded their target for the month— Ports of San Fernando, Manila International Container Port, Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Batangas, Cebu, Tacloban, Surigao, Cagayan de Oro, Zamboanga, Davao, Subic, Clark, Aparri and Limay.

As of date, the BOC collected P397.514 billion since January reflecting 78.54 percent of the 2020 target collection—P506.150 billion.

The improved collection performance is attributed to the intensified collective effort of all ports, gradual improvement of importation volume and the government’s effort in ensuring unhampered movement of goods domestically and internationally considering the pandemic situation.

Moreover, the BOC maintained its border security measures against undervaluation, misdeclaration and other forms of technical smuggling and collected lawful revenues. (PR)