House leader praises BOC tax performance

THE Bureau of Customs earned praises from a ranking member of Congress for its revenue performance under Commissioner Bienvenido Rubio where the agency even registered the highest revenue collection in a single day last month of April.

“Hindi lang good ha, very good,” a visibly elated Albay Rep. Joey Salceda said. Salceda is also the chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means, principally tasked to ensure that government revenue agencies are delivering on their committed collection goals.

“Before we start our committee hearing for today, please allow me to congratulate the tax collection agencies for very good revenue collection performance.

“Hindi lang good ha, very good,” Salceda said in a manifestation before his panel last Wednesday, May 3, 2023.

Citing data from the bureau’s Financial Service, the customs chief, in a statement last week noted that actual collection for April was recorded at P68.274 billion as against the target of P68.199 billion or a razon-thin surplus of P75 million.

However, the result is still 3.07 percent higher than the actual collection for the same month last year placed at P65.669 billion (see also Pinoy Exposé, May 3, 2023).

“This suggests that, despite uncertain global conditions, our tax collection agencies are exceeding expectations and are working hard to earn the lifeblood of Philippine government,” said Salceda, one of the few known economic technocrats sitting in Congress.

The BOC had also recorded last April 28 its biggest single-day collection ever in the amount of P7.510 billion, which is P1.436 billion or 23.64 percent higher than the previous single-day record of P6.074 billion, which was achieved on Oct. 14, 2022, under Commissioner Yogi Filemon Ruiz whom Rubio succeeded last February.

According to Rubio, the first four months of 2023 has also resulted to a collection of P281.902 billion, which was 6.29 percent or P16.682 billion higher than its target of P265.220 billion.

The figure was also 10.89 percent higher than the P254.226 billion collected from January to April 2022.

Meanwhile, Salceda also praised the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), which he said is projected to collect a record P301 billion in April alone. This is a 25 percent increase from the P239.6-billion collection during the same month last year.

“Please allow me to congratulate the tax collection agencies for good revenue collection performance.

“Despite the volatility in the global economy, at the very least a cloudy global economic climate, the Philippines appears to be in good shape… our tax collection agencies are exceeding expectations and are working hard to earn the lifeblood of the Philippine government.” Salceda added.