The Bureau of Customs has set a record revenue collection in October, but it still missed its target for the month.

In a statement on Sunday, BOC Commissioner Isidro Lapena, citing the initial report from the Financial Service of the agency, said the cash collection for October hit P42.006 billion, slightly lower than the P42.540 billion target based on Budget of Expenditures and Sources of Financing.

He said the generated revenue in October was "the highest monthly collection in the agency’s history."

The BOC posted P40.182 billion revenue collection in September.

"Although the month of October was marked with lesser number of working days and volume of imports, growth was still achieved because of increase in the value of imports brought by the higher exchange rate, oil price, and improved valuation and classification," Lapena said.

"Slowly, the reforms we have started are gaining ground," he said.

It may be recalled that upon his assumption on August 30, one of his five priorities is to discontinue the benchmarking of duties and taxes and to strictly adhere to the World Trade Organization Valuation Code and classification of goods.

WTO valuation provides a valuation system that primarily bases the Customs value on the transaction value of the imported goods, which is the price actually paid or payable for the goods when sold for export to the country of importation, with certain adjustments, which is incorporated in Section 700-706 of the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act.

According to Lapena, the BOC is presently coming up with a uniform application of the rules in valuation to provide a fair playing field among the stakeholders.

This is seen to boost confidence in the business sector which could lead to more investment and even more employment opportunities, he added. DMS