THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) Port of Cebu has collected P15.2 billion from January to October 2016, a continuing indication of Cebu’s healthy economy.
Port of Cebu District Collector Rico Rey Francis “Koko” Holganza said that the P15.2-billion collection for the 10 months of 2016 is higher than the P14.4 billion collected for the same period last year.
Holganza said that with the positive performance, the BOC Port of Cebu deserves to have its own office. At present, they are holding office at the Cebu Port Authority (CPA) building, which was designed for vessel passengers.
The BOC has set aside P350 million for the construction of a new customs building.
Holganza said they are now seeking the assistance of Presidential Assistant Michael Dino to get a 4,000-square-meter lot from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for the project site.
Records show that the Port of Cebu has collected P8.8 billion for the first semester of 2016 (January to June).
For the third quarter of the year, the Port of Cebu collected P4.876 billion, which is higher than the target of P4.1 billion. The P4.8 billion is broken down to P1.7 billion for July, P1.4 billion for August, and P1.7 billion for September.
For October, the actual collection was P1.5 billion, higher than the P1.4 billion target.
Most of the 30 top importers who paid duties and taxes to the BOC are in power and energy, and construction supplies.
Conrado M. Abarintos, Port of Cebu chief of collection division, identified the top 30 importers as Therma Visayas Inc., Seaoil Philippines Inc., Cebu Energy Development Corp., Steel Asia Manufacturing Corp., Taiheiyo Cement Philippines Inc., Ecossential Foods Corp., Apo Cement Corp., Chioson Development Corp., E and P Green Energy Inc., Virginia Food Inc., Galvaphil Inc., Mahwa Steel Corp., AD Gothong Manufacturing Corp., Kepco SPC Power Corp., Treasure Island Industrial Corp., Petronas Energy Philippines Inc., Cebu Oversea Hardware Co. Inc., Phil Gold Processing and Refining, and AC Steel Industries Inc.
The Office of the Commissioner has placed Cebu in number six of all the customs ports in the country in terms of collection percentage for the month of October 2016.