WALANG nakikitang dahilan ang pamunuan ng Bureau of Customs (BOC) para hindi malampasan – o maabot man lang ang itinakdang P700-B target collection sa pagsasara ng taong kasalukuyan.

Para kay BOC Operations Chief Arnaldo Dela Torre na tumatayong tagapagsalita ng ahensya, kayang-kaya ng kagawarang bunuin ang P83 bilyon o higit pa hanggang sa pagtatapos ng 2022, lalo pa’t maganda ang ipinamalas ng 17 BOC district collection offices mula Enero hanggang Setyembre.

Ayon kay Dela Torre, higit pa sa nakatakdang buwanang target ang naitala ng ahensya sa nakalipas na buwan – “The Bureau of Customs believes that the set target given to us by the national government for 2022 – this is PHP721 billion, as of September, we have already collected P638 billion, we believe, under the leadership of our good Commissioner (Yogi Filemon Ruiz), we will achieve the 2022 collection target,” pahayag pa niya sa ginanap na Laging Handa briefing nito lamang nakaraang Biyernes.

Para sa buwan ng Setyembre, pumalo sa P79.5 bilyon ang pumasok na kita ng ahensya mula sa mga buwis at taripa ng mga pumasok at lumabas na kargamento sa bansa. Sa datos ng BOC Financial Service, lumabis pa ng P17.6 bilyon ang naturang koleksyon.

Batay sa pinakahuling tala ng naturang tanggapan, sumobra rin ng P61.9 bilyon ang kabuuang nakolekta ng BOC sa unang si­yam na buwan ng taon.

Paniwala ng tagapagsalita ng kawanihan, malaking bentahe ang mahigpit na pagpapatupad ng mga programang nagbibigay-daan sa mga repormang isinusulong ni Ruiz – kabilang ang kampanya kontra smugglers at katiwalian.

“First of all, the strong and high cooperation of our staff because they are more motivated now due to the leadership of our new President (Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.). One of them is the strict focus of our Bureau’s ports on the valuation of importations. Border protection measures have also been tightened to ensure that the taxes we collect are correct,” sambit ni Dela Torre.

“Second, due to our reco­vering economy, we notice that the volume of imported goods continues to increase. So now, there are more ships arriving and we are processing more imports. Third, we continue with our mo­dernization programs. That was done during the previous admi­nistration, we continue to improve and improve the services that we should provide to our countrymen and those who transact with the BOC,” dagdag pa niya.

Kasabay nito, iniulat din ni Dela Torre ang agresibong implementasyon ng mga reglamento – kabilang ang paghahain ng 128 letters of authority na batayan para sa pagsasagawa ng mga inspeksyon sa mga bodegang pinaniniwalaang imbakan ng mga ipinuslit na kargamento tulad ng mga produktong agrikultura.

“We had issues with regard to the inspection of the warehouses where the agricultural products were, we checked if they had documents to prove that they were imported, because of this, there are approximately 5.3 billion worth of seized smuggled goods from July to September.”

“Under the same timeline, we have filed criminal complaints against erring importers, 26 complaints against Customs brokers before the DOJ (Department of Justice), and their total dutiable value is amounting to P175 million; and we have five administrative complaints with the Philippine Regulation Commission.” aniya pa.

Mayroon din aniyang walong show-cause orders at kasong administratibo at laban sa mga tiwaling kawani.
“Also conducted 132 investigations. Because of this, we have one suspended, three reprimanded, seventy-four reshuffled and seven relieved employees,” pahabol pa ni Dela Torre.