DAVAO CITY (MindaNews) — The Port of Davao posted PhP 18.6 billion in revenues collected from January to June 2021, surpassing by PhP 1.1 billion its collection target of PhP 17.5 billion for the first half of the year.
Atty. Erastus Sandino B. Austria, district collector of BOC-Davao, attributed the increase in revenue collections to the growth of Davao Region as one of the top performing regional economies in the country.
The Port of Davao, one of the 17 collection districts of BOC, also exercises jurisdiction over the major sub-ports of Dadiangas in General Santos City, Parang in Maguindanao, and Mati in Mati City, Davao Oriental .
“The region is really growing, although it suffered a setback due to the pandemic. Davao region happens to be among the top 5 growing regions in the country. It’s top performer and, of course, the hub of region 11 is Davao city, our biggest economic engine within our area of responsibility,” he told a virtual presser on Friday, livestreamed via the Philippine Information Agency Davao region Facebook page.
The Dadiangas port is in Region 12 or Soccsksargen, while Parang is in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. Mati is in the Davao region. Austria did not provide a breakdown of how much each port contributed to the PhP 18.6 billion collection.
In a press release, BOC-Davao reported that its collections nationwide reached P302.744 billion for the first semester of the year, which surpassed by P10.911 billion or 3.7% of its midyear collection target of P291.8 billion, and higher compared with P253 billion collected in the same period of last year.
The agency attributed increased collections to “the improved valuation of the bureau, its digitized and modernized systems, the gradually improving economy resulting to higher volume of importations, and the intensified collection efforts of all districts.”
Austria said the revenues would have been higher if not for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic that forced the government to impose lockdowns to stem the spread of the infections, restricting local economic activities.
“It actually continued to grow but not at the rate that we were expecting. It’s a good thing that it did not contract. But if there no pandemic, definitely, we would have performed much better,” he said.
Despite the slowdown in economic activity due to the lockdowns, Austria said BOC is hard at work in raising the revenues to fund the projects of the government and to address the current emergency brought about by the pandemic, particularly in raising funds to procure vaccines.
The Port of Davao, he said, collected PhP 30.483 billion for the whole year of 2020, which exceeded by 23.6 percent its target of PhP 24.663 billion.
The COVID-19 pandemic dampened the growth momentum of Davao Region after its gross regional domestic product contracted by 7.6% in 2020 from a positive growth rate of 7% in 2019, according to a report released by Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)-Davao in April.
The region’s economy was estimated at P832.1 billion, lower by P68.8 billion as against P900.9 billion reported in 2019.
He said the Port of Davao saw a 25% dip in the volume of imports and exports in the second quarter of last year due to the lockdowns imposed in the major global market, particularly China.
“China went on lockdown, and then the raw materials were starting to get depleted in many manufacturing facilities that were also in China. Essentially, it disrupted the supply chain globally,” he said.
He said exportation and importation of basic commodities bounced back, owing to the recalibrations in the logistics undertaken by multinational companies.
He said some local businesses managed to stay afloat despite the pandemic, owing to the increased demand for essential goods that led to the growth in the volume of essential goods imported. (Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)
