Customs surpasses Q1 collection target

The Bureau of Customs (BoC) on Saturday said it has exceeded its revenue collection target for the first quarter of this year.

BoC Assistant Commissioner Vincent Philip Maronilla said the agency has collected P219.385 billion in total revenue — a surplus of P8.489 billion from its target for January to March 2024.

“So, there’s a surplus of about more than P8 billion by the Bureau of Customs for the first quarter of 2024,” he added.

Maronilla said portions of the collections came from the voluntary payments made by companies through the BoC’s prior disclosure program, amounting to about P1.88 billion — the highest in the history of the Bureau of Customs per quarter.

“Also, there were audit findings amounting to about P89 million. We also collected about P3.8 million in revenue for public auctions conducted by the bureau,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Customs also confiscated P11.8 billion worth of smuggled goods in the first quarter of this year.

“So, we’re still on track on having one of the largest hauls in recent years of smuggled products,” Maronilla said.

He noted that the BoC seized a total of P48 billion worth of smuggled items last year.

Maronilla said the goods most commonly smuggled into the country include cigarettes, intellectual property rights (IPR) items, as well as local brands, agricultural products, and medicines.

“Cigarettes have jumped from the years before to really become one of the most smuggled items. Whenever an item increases in terms of tax rate or tax treatment, that product becomes the most smuggled item,” he noted.