Dumaguete Customs Collector Fe Lluelyn G. Toring (File photo by Judy Flores-Partlow)
DUMAGUETE CITY – The first quarter collection of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) Sub-port Office here went up 30 percent but reported a drop in its April revenue collection during the imposition of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in Negros Oriental to fight the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
Dumaguete Customs Collector Fe Lluelyn Toring, however, said they are hopeful that they will be able to bounce back once the Covid-19 pandemic slows down and the situation here and elsewhere shifts to the “new normal”.
While the BOC office here exceeded its target collection for the first quarter of the year or during the months of January, February, and March, revenues for the month of April showed a steep decline, she said.
Records at the BOC-Dumaguete show that the actual collection for the first quarter of this year reached more than PHP1.378 billion, which is higher than the target collection of PHP1.060 billion.
This reflects a 29.95 percent excess of more than PHP317.612 million.
However, for the month of April alone, the target collection was pegged at more than PHP431.463 million but its actual collection was only PHP109.104 million, or a 77.34 percent drop, Toring said.
Meanwhile, from May 1-8, the office collected some PHP21.372 million from the importation of some 51,000 bags of commercial rice from Vietnam, but it still needs to meet its target of PHP521.965 million.
Toring said the biggest importer and contributor to their revenues, Filoil Energy Co. Inc. (Filoil), still continues to import gasoline and other petroleum products despite the quarantine measures but is alternating between gasoline and diesel each month.
The drop in revenue collection is attributed to the lesser demand for these petroleum products, due to the restriction on public and private transportation during the ECQ, while industries dependent on fuel also rolled to a stop, she said.
Toring is hopeful that in the coming months, they will be able to bounce back as Filoil and other importers continue to bring in their goods.
The Customs Office here has a target collection of some PHP 5.8 billion this year. (PNA)
