THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) expects to post a revenue surplus in January, supported by a weaker peso, stronger import volumes and the resumption of rice importation.
Customs Assistant Commissioner Vincent Philip Maronilla told reporters on Tuesday that collections were already ahead of target by “about P500 million” despite operational setbacks.
“[W]e’re expecting it to be more because yesterday’s collection was affected by some slowdown in the system and some logistical issues with the ports,” Maronilla said.
Shipment volumes entering the country remain strong, he added, which should allow the bureau to widen the expected surplus by the end of the month.
“For the month of January alone, we’re targeting about P3 billion to P4 billion surplus,” Maronilla said, adding that the BOC was confident of hitting its revenue goal for 2026.
The bureau collected P79.3 billion in January last year, and Maronilla said this month’s take would be higher.
Full-year collections for 2025 totaled P934.4 billion, below the P958.7-billion target but still higher than 2024’s P916.674 billion. The BOC is tasked to collect P1.003 trillion this year.
One of the factors said to be lifting collections is the peso’s weakness against the dollar, which increases the peso value of dollar-denominated imports and in turn boosts duties collected at the border.
“We won’t deny that we benefit from an increase of the strong dollar,” Maronilla said.
The resumption of rice imports has also contributed to January collections. Based on earlier estimates, the four-month halt had dented Customs’ revenues by about P3 billion per month.
Rice importation, which Maronilla said provided a substantial boost to BOC revenues, resumed at the beginning of the year.
While a stronger peso could reduce the windfall from foreign exchange movements, he said Customs was already planning offsetting measures.
“We’re expecting that will change in the next few months, and we’re going to compensate for that particular loss with some other measures,” Maronilla said.
Among these is a more aggressive auction program for seized vehicles, to start as early as February and conducted every two weeks to prevent asset depreciation.
“[W]e want to make sure that we collect the maximum benefit in terms of value so that it won’t be prejudicial to the government,” Maronilla said.
“Based on our January figures, we’re still up [in terms of revenues]. If we continue this trend, we’re very much confident that we’re going to hit the revenue target for this year,” he said.
