The Bureau of Customs (BOC) is optimistic it will reach its target for 2024 after exceeding its January collection goal.

“For this year, since we just started for January we collected PHP106 billion. That is still ahead of the target so we’re on the right track,” BOC Deputy Commissioner Michael Fermin said during a news forum in Quezon City on Saturday.

“We have been efficiently collecting revenues especially with the higher target this year set by the DBCC (Development Budget Coordination Committee),” he added.

The DBCC is an inter-agency body under the National Economic and Development Authority tasked to set the government’s macroeconomic assumptions.

For 2024, the bureau eyes to collect PHP1 trillion in revenues.

Last year, BOC amassed PHP883.62 billion, breaching its annual target of PHP874 billion.

On border control and protection, Fermin said the BOC has so far recorded 980 successful seizure operations, the highest in its record, with a total monetary value of PHP43.3 billion.

Some of the top seized goods were counterfeits like bags and shoes, followed by PHP7 billion worth of illegal drugs.

In 2023 alone, the BOC filed 90 criminal cases before the Department of Justice, 60 of which were agricultural smuggling.

This year, the office has so far filed 13 cases.

In terms of trade facilitation, Fermin said the BOC is fully in line with President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s directive for digitalization and has already automated and streamlined at least 97 percent of its core processes.

The BOC has already implemented some of them, such as the overstaying tracking systems to address congestions in ports. (PNA)