POLICY changes involving fiscal incentives aimed at helping Filipino farmers and in boosting the country’s nascent ‘eVehicle’ sector coupled with a plunge in global oil prices apparently impacted on the Bureau of Customs’ meeting its 2025 collection target.
In a statement, the BOC said the final figures showed the agency turning in ₱934.4 billion in actual collection last year, which is ₱17.7 billion or 1.9 percent higher than its 2024 collection of ₱916.674 billion.
Under then Commissioner Bienvenido Rubio, the BOC, in January 2025, announced the ambitious goal of collecting ₱1.06 trillion, which is a 12.8 percent increase from the 2024 collection target of ₱939 billion.
The target, however, was subsequently lowered by the country’s fiscal managers to ₱958.714 billion.
In November, four months after taking office, Commissioner Ariel Nepomuceno, said he is meeting with the Cabinet-level Development Budget Coordinating Committee (DBCC) to discuss further adjustments of his agency’s collection goals due to slackening imports, decline in global oil prices and the temporary ban up to the end of the year on the import of rice starting in September 2025 ordered by President Marcos Jr., to protect Filipino farmers.
Government data showed that rice imports alone contributed to between ₱3 billion to ₱4 billion in customs revenue each month.
Import tariff from rice also shrink to ₱13.373 billion from January to September 2025, which is nearly 52 percent lower from the ₱27.705 billion collected for the same period in 2024, after President Marcos further lowered the import tariff for rice from 35 percent to 15 percent.
To support the country’s nascent ‘eVehicles’ sector, the government also expanded the ‘zero-import duty’ on electric and hybrid electric vehicles for a revenue loss estimated at more than ₱18 billion.