STRONGER monitoring, improved valuation and assessment, and intensified action against smuggling helped the Bureau of Customs (BOC) raise a record P757.4 billion in the first nine months of 2026.
Preliminary data from the bureau showed that revenue collections hit P757.406 billion in January-September, its highest-ever nine-month take and exceeded the P748.494-billion target for the period.
It was also 7.9 percent higher than the P701.671 billion collected a year earlier.
“The BOC’s sustained revenue growth is supported by strengthened monitoring and collection measures, improved valuation and assessment, intensified enforcement against smuggling and other forms of revenue leakage, and continuing efforts to modernize customs processes,” Customs Commissioner Ariel Nepomuceno said in a statement.
The bureau collected P93.339 billion in September alone, higher than the month’s target of P89.184 billion and the P80.283 billion seen a year earlier.
The BOC’s revenue collection target has been raised to P1.011 trillion from P1.003 trillion, which Nepomuceno said “is ambitious, but our performance shows that we are on the right track.”
Achieving the revenue goal should be viewed as a shared responsibility across the bureau, he said, adding that “every peso we properly collect goes back to our people, supporting the services and programs they need.”
“With three months remaining in 2026, the BOC is focused on sustaining its momentum toward its full-year revenue goal,” Nepomuceno continued.
“For the bureau, the path toward the P1-trillion mark will ultimately be measured not by speculation, but by actual collections and results.”
