THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) said it collected P539.660 billion in 2020, surpassing its annual collection target by P33.5 billion or 6.6 percent.

In a statement, the BOC said 10 out of the 17 collection districts exceeded their respective targets for 2020.

These are the Ports of Cebu, Tacloban, Surigao, Cagayan De Oro, Zamboanga, Davao, Subic, Clark, Aparri, and Limay.

For the month of December alone, the bureau collected P47.316 billion, 9.1 percent higher than the P43.368-billion target for the month.

The bureau exceeded its monthly target in seven out of 12 months, according to the BOC Financial Service report. For the entire year, the bureau had targeted to collect P506.15 billion.

The BOC attributed its positive revenue collection performance to the “improved valuation and intensified collection efforts of all the ports, gradual improvement of importation volume and the government’s effort in ensuring unhampered movement of goods domestically and internationally considering the pandemic situation.” (SunStar Philippines from PR)