Panayam kay BuCor Spokesperson Atty. Vincent Philip Maronilla
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00:00 The collection target of the Bureau of Customs in September and updates on the return boxes.
00:07 We will talk with Attorney Vincent Philip Maronilla, Assistant Commissioner and Spokesperson of the Bureau of Customs.
00:16 Attorney Maronilla, good afternoon and welcome to the new Philippines today.
00:23 Good afternoon Nina and good afternoon ADG and good afternoon to all the viewers and listeners of this program.
00:31 Attorney, the Bureau of Customs will pass its target collection in September this year.
00:38 Can you give us any figures? How big is your collection?
00:42 And what is the target of the Customs Bureau this September?
00:48 I'm looking for the month of P77.532 billion pesos.
01:01 But our collection is P78.616 billion.
01:04 Our collection is more than P1 billion for this month.
01:09 We're about 1.4 percent of our target.
01:12 For our update for the month of January to October, our target is supposed to be P721.717 billion.
01:25 But our collection from January to October of 2023, reached P739 billion or more than P17.287 billion for our target.
01:39 That's an increase from the target to about 2.4 percent of our surplus collection.
01:46 Well, congratulations ASCOM and congratulations to the Bureau of Customs for this excellent performance.
01:53 What are the reasons you found for this high collection based on your assessment?
01:59 ADG, of course, we're looking for macroeconomic assumptions that were not fulfilled.
02:08 In fact, the volume of imports decreased this year and this month.
02:17 So we need to improve our revenue efficiency.
02:21 Commissioner Bian Rubio made a comprehensive strategy to reduce the volume of our imports, especially our high dutyable imports.
02:36 By way of the strategy implemented by Commissioner Rubio, he looked at the items that we can improve our revenue efficiency.
02:44 Despite the decrease in the volume of imports, our collection is still high because we were able to target the items that we need to target.
02:54 Commissioner Rubio analyzed the items that were driven by data and at the same time, he improved our overall trade facilitation
03:03 so that the items that we export and import can be exported faster.
03:11 At the same time, our trade activity is now rolling in the fair and our collection is better.
03:18 For our countrymen to be more clear on the collections of taxes, duties, and fees of the DOC,
03:26 how important is this and how much help is this to the government's programs in the country?
03:33 The Bureau of Customs is the third largest revenue collection agency of the government.
03:42 For this year, we are aiming to contribute about 900 million to about 1 trillion pesos,
03:53 if our surplus can handle it, in revenue. This will fund a lot of the programs of the government.
04:00 Our contribution to the government's economy is very important.
04:07 That's why we, BIR and other revenue earning agencies of the government,
04:14 are continuously being targeted by our economic managers and are continuously receiving guidance and support from our president.
04:23 Our president and the Director-General of the Bureau of Customs realized how important our revenue collection is to the programs implemented by the government.
04:33 900 million to about 1 trillion pesos of collection will not be added to the burden of our government this year.
04:45 Okay, ASCOM, let's move to the topic of anti-smuggling.
04:50 The Bureau of Customs is also part of our efforts to stop smuggling.
04:54 Smuggling of goods without tariff, without tax is not paid to our country.
04:59 How are the anti-smuggling operations you are working on in September?
05:05 And how big is the sum of the Bureau of Customs?
05:09 In the month of September, ADG, we apprehended and sold more than 80 million pesos worth of smuggled goods.
05:23 But the overall anti-smuggling efforts of our Bureau of Customs this year are more important.
05:30 For the year 2023, the Bureau of Customs apprehended 40 billion pesos of smuggled goods.
05:42 This is the highest amount of smuggled goods that the Bureau of Customs apprehended in its history.
05:49 This is done by our leadership, Commissioner Rubio and our Deputy Commissioners for Intelligence, Deputy Commissioner Juvie Max Uy
05:59 and Deputy Commissioner Teddy Raval through a concerted effort of combining good intelligence with efficient enforcement work.
06:07 Because of this, we were able to identify the items that we need to monitor, the containers that we need to collect.
06:14 This is the result. For this year, the Bureau of Customs apprehended and the number of smuggled goods is the highest in its history.
06:26 Okay. In other talks, Atty., what is the update on the Balikbayan boxes that were sold?
06:34 How many were sent to the boxes now?
06:38 Most of them, almost all of them, we are delivering. We are distributing this to the owners, especially to the Balikbayan boxes that were sold
06:53 because their forwarding companies were fooled, their consolidators and deconsolidators that they trusted.
07:03 We will continue to remind our fellow OFWs that the Department of Trade and Industry has a list on their website
07:12 that has a good history of good transactions of freight forwarders, consolidators and deconsolidators.
07:21 You can also ask the Deconsolidators Association of the Philippines or DDCAF.
07:27 They are an organization of deconsolidators that are monitoring themselves and making sure that their members are honest and not doing schemes
07:43 where they will just take money from the people, but when it comes to this, they will leave the Balikbayan boxes.
07:48 As part of the Bureau of Customs, we make sure that if there's an incident like this, we will help other agencies of the government.
07:56 We are still processing this under our law and we are the ones who are informing the owners and setting a date when they can claim this in a specific area.
08:12 For those who are far away, we are trying to deliver them there and we are setting a place where they can base themselves so they can pick up.
08:21 Okay. So ASCOM, the main reason why the delivery of Balikbayan boxes was delayed is because the freight forwarders of this company
08:31 just left the Balikbayan boxes and now you are the ones in the Bureau of Customs who are sending the recipients?
08:41 Unfortunately, ADG, that's the reason.
08:45 Because the freight forwarders and deconsolidators are processing and delivering the Balikbayan boxes to our OFWs.
08:56 Most of the boxes that you see now that were delivered and not yet delivered, most of them were delivered here and were abandoned.
09:05 There's no discussion on who will deconsolidate and it was not processed in the Bureau of Customs.
09:12 That's why it was delivered to us, abandoned and we need to process it legally.
09:17 We take it upon ourselves as per instruction by the President and of course by Commissioner Rubio,
09:28 as part of our service to our public, that we should make a way under our law to process this,
09:36 to make it clear and to deliver it to our countrymen.
09:41 Attorney, what are the next steps of the BOC so that this delay to the Balikbayan boxes will not happen again?
09:51 Again Nina, there are agencies like the Department of Trade and Industry and there are organizations like DDCAP
10:00 that have websites and contact numbers that you can see.
10:05 We have a list of consolidators whose transactions with our government are historically good.
10:14 The Balikbayan boxes are being delivered and there's no bad record.
10:20 We understand that there are new consolidators and deconsolidators,
10:28 forwarders that are offering cheaper fees to send the Balikbayan boxes to our countrymen and their families.
10:38 But sometimes, if you don't do a background check on these companies, they are the first problem.
10:46 You are fooled and they get their money and there's no effort to release and process their shipment.
10:55 What's happening is, they will get it and send it to our country.
10:58 There's nothing left and they will be left behind when it arrives here.
11:01 Our advice is to educate ourselves, especially our OFWs, on the history of companies that trust the precious contents of their Balikbayan boxes.
11:14 We know the hardship that our countrymen are going through to fill this and send it to their loved ones.
11:22 Whatever the importance of the goods inside, we will also do the same to choose the right consolidators and deconsolidators
11:31 that we will trust to send our Balikbayan boxes.
11:36 Okay. So our countrymen should be aware of the choices of these.
11:42 Do you have a list of these freight forwarders that we cannot expect?
11:47 Yes. We have. We will post this on our website, those who have history.
11:53 Aside from their accreditation in the bureau, we have already cut their accreditation so they cannot transact here.
12:03 Our concern is that we will post them on our website because in other countries, they might still operate and they might be fooled.
12:11 We will post this on www.customs.gov.ph. We will also post this on our social media pages, Twitter, Instagram and even on TikTok.
12:24 We made an info drive for this bear months to help our countrymen to be informed about the companies that have a bad record in the Bureau of Customs.
12:35 Thank you very much for your time, Attorney Vincent Philip Maronilla, Assistant Commissioner and Speaker of the Bureau of Customs.
12:43 shots.
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