Bureau of Customs Says It Can Hit ₱1-Trillion Revenue Target, Even as 2027 Budget Slashes Its Modernization Funding by ₱22 Billion

The Bureau of Customs (BoC) says it is confident it can meet a ₱1.075-trillion revenue target for 2027 through stricter cargo assessments, even as the proposed national budget cuts the agency's requested modernization funding by roughly ₱22 billion — a gap officials say could delay the purchase of scanning machines and radiation detectors meant to curb smuggling and undervaluation. "I think we can do it," Customs Commissioner Ariel Nepomuceno told BusinessWorld in an interview published Aug. 20, referring to next year's collection goal, which represents a 6.3-percent increase over the bureau's ₱1.011-trillion target for 2026. "The key is how do we make sure that assessment will be very strict, meaning we will have to ensure that there will be no misdeclaration and misclassification, which will lead to undervaluation," he said. **Revenue outlook** Under the 2027 Budget of Expenditures and Sources of Financing, value-added tax on imports — the BoC's single largest revenue source — is projected to rise 5.6 percent to ₱692.31 billion next year from a ₱655.89-billion program in 2026, accounting for roughly 64 percent of the bureau's overall target. Nepomuceno attributed the projected increase to an expected rise in import volumes. Finance Secretary Frederick Go told a budget hearing this week that the BoC is on track to breach the ₱1-trillion mark for 2026, and that combined BoC and Bureau of Internal Revenue collections should push total national government tax revenues to ₱4.4 trillion by the end of the year. **Modernization funding cut by nearly 80 percent** Despite the bullish revenue outlook, Nepomuceno said the BoC will seek to recover funding excluded from the 2027 National Expenditure Program. The agency requested ₱28 billion, primarily for modernization projects including scanning machines and radiation detectors at every port, but only ₱5.902 billion was carried over into the proposed budget — a reduction of about 79 percent from the original request. "We will try to appeal. Our original proposal is for the modernization — ₱28 billion. The only thing left is ₱5.902 billion," Nepomuceno told reporters. The bureau's total proposed budget for 2027 is 9.7 percent lower than its current ₱6.534-billion program for 2026; excluding automatic appropriations, the decline is 13 percent, to ₱4.283 billion from ₱4.922 billion under the 2026 General Appropriations Act. Nepomuceno said the lower allocation could delay the modernization program, and that the BoC cannot easily shift the equipment purchases to public-private partnerships because scanning and X-ray services are not charged to stakeholders. The agency plans to formally seek restoration of the funding for projects that cannot be pursued through PPP arrangements, he said. **Port congestion order pending** Separately, Nepomuceno said he hopes a joint administrative order intended to ease port congestion and regulate cargo-handling charges will be signed by the end of August, ahead of an anticipated import surge in October. "If this instead comes out in September, the room for preparation will be squeezed," he said, adding that faster cargo movement could raise both BoC and BIR collections while lowering costs for consumers. Finance Undersecretary Rolando Ligon Jr. said the department would push to have the order signed as soon as possible given the expected congestion during the year-end "ber" months. **What's unresolved** The Department of Budget and Management has not publicly detailed why the BoC's modernization request was cut by nearly 80 percent while its revenue target was raised, and it remains unclear whether Congress will restore any of the requested ₱28 billion during budget deliberations, which the House began this month and aims to complete by Oct. 9. **Sources:** - [BoC confident it can meet P1-T revenue goal](https://bworldonline.com/top-stories/2026/08/20/771294/boc-confident-it-can-meet-p1-t-revenue-goal/) — BusinessWorld, Aug. 20, 2026 - [Government recalibrates BIR, BOC collection targets](https://www.philstar.com/business/2026/07/10/2541046/government-recalibrates-bir-boc-collection-targets) — Philstar.com, July 10, 2026