To our BOC Commissioner Ariel F. Nepomuceno, Deputy and Assistant Commissioners, our tireless district collectors, ladies and gentlemen, magandang hapon po sa inyong lahat.

It is my greatest pleasure to join you all here today.

But first, thank you for making time to be here. When you are tasked to collect roughly 3 billion pesos a day this year, from Monday to Sunday, kada bente-kuwatro oras, time away from your post is a privilege you can rarely indulge. Kaya maraming salamat po sa inyong presenya.

As you know, the BOC is more than the landing point of trade in our country. It is also the starting point of our nation’s progress.

As the second biggest revenue agency, about 23 centavos of every revenue peso that will be raised this year will be collected by you.

And for every budget peso that the government will spend this year, almost 17 centavos will be generated by this Bureau.

Or you can view it this way, this time from the prism of expenditures.

For every 1,000 policemen who will be hired, you will be responsible for 17 percent of what will be put inside their pay envelopes.

For every 1,000 kilometers of road to be built, you will bankroll the first 170 kilometers.

For every 1,000 classrooms to be constructed, you will shoulder the cost of 170 units.

For every 1,000 cancer patients to be treated, you will pick up the tab for the chemo of 170 of them.

The bottom line is this: If all government activities under the sun carry a price tag, then 17 percent of each one of them will be paid by the BOC.

If we fail, then it is not our fiscal position that will take a hit, but our children’s future. As any deficit will be covered by debt, many of which they will inherit.

So the BOC’s target to raise 1.06 trillion pesos this year is not a mere ledger entry to be submitted to the government.

Rather, it will fund a spreadsheet of programs, including the solutions to the problems that you yourselves encounter every day.

‘Pag nakadaan kayo sa kalsadang ginawa, that is your collections at work.

‘Pag natanaw niyo ang umuusbong na bagong riles ng tren, take satisfaction in the thought that you have built the fiscal rail tracks on which they will run.

The BOC enables the government to deliver its promises to the Filipino people, and the nation to realize its dreams.

For our revenue agencies are the engine room of the ship of state, harnessing the fuel—the taxes the people pay—into the power that propels the ship forward, safely and strongly against headwinds, to its promised destination of peace and progress.

But like the crew below deck, yours is not a glamorous job.

Habang tulog ang bansa, gising ang mga pantalan, may lumalapag na eroplano, may dumadaong na barko, may kargamentong dapat bantayan.

And the truth is there are those who would turn discretion into currency. Those who want to buy the fast lane, bargain the valuation, and bribe the inspection. Every shortcut sold makes trust more brittle and compliance rarer.

Hinding hindi for sale ang integridad. So for those who try to hold the line with integrity— every single day— I stand even prouder with you.

When smuggling, corruption, and kickbacks flourish, the honest are punished, prices skew, and services shrink.

Kapag may nakalusot na iligal, may hanapbuhay na nawawala; kapag may undervaluation, may silid-aralan na hindi natatapos.

That’s how crucial your job is for our people.

Kaya mahalaga na mahigpit at tapat tayong nagbabantay. For a porous border punctures our coffers, creates revenue leaks, and takes away funds that should have been rightfully spent for the future of our people.

For example, the revenue loss from 50,000 sacks of smuggled rice was 36.7 million pesos, according to last year’s data.

This is enough to buy 22,518 bags of fertilizer that can nurture 11.7 square kilometers of rice land.

A smuggled Bugatti Chiron, with an estimated revenue loss of 168 million pesos, can fund the construction of 84 much-needed classrooms for public school students.

Another example is revenue loss from 50,000 liters of gasoline. Isang tangke lang yan, hindi isang barko.

The 789,000 pesos forfeited can buy one Jollibee meal for 12,725 children under the care of the DSWD.

When you drop your ball, thousands will be denied their meals.

The success of the government’s entire socioeconomic strategy hinges on the dedicated efforts of each and every one of you, in every section, in every port.

At alam natin na raising money to fund the budget is increasingly hard under a political culture that sees spending taxes as a virtue, but collecting them as a sin; which treats their evasion as a sport, but their imposition a crime.

Even so-called “free items” adored by the people today will have to be paid for later, by them.

When the bill comes, it is the taxpayer who will pay the tab. The buck stops with them.

At sino pine-pressure kapag singilan na at puputok na ang mga bayarin? Hindi yung mga umani ng pogi points, pero yung mga kontrabida sa revenue raising sector.

At ngayon, mas lalong bumibigat ang ating trabaho. Dahil sa mga napapabalitang kurapsyon at ghost projects, galit ang taumbayan—dahil ang pinaghirapan nilang pera, imbes mapunta sa serbisyo publiko, napupunta lang sa bulsa ng iilan.

That is why I always reiterate that good and rightful spending is the best way to encourage tax compliance, a matter that is no longer in your backyard.

People are naturally born resistant to taxes. But their tax obedience can be won if they will see how the taxes they paid are spent for the right things, at the right price, by the right agency, at the right time.

As it stands, BOC should not be collateral damage of the problems on the expenditure side.

May kasabihan na patriotism is soluble in taxes. True, because floods can wash away belief in the government, too.

Kaya, in many meetings, I have always championed your cause.

Una, i-kalkula ng mabuti ang revenue target, kasi ang expenditures ay hindi naman open bar sa isang restaurant, tapos ang bill ibibigay sa tax collecting agencies.

Pangalawa, spend taxes well, because if we demand a receipt for goods sold, the people are also entitled to the resibo of government projects financed by the taxes they paid.

Sa ating mga BOC collectors, tuloy lang po ang trabaho, sa gitna ng maraming hamon. Because those who give light must endure burning.

On the part of the DOF, we will remain a strong supporter of the BOC as it intensifies its modernization initiatives.

We are also fully behind the BOC’s ongoing efforts to uphold the integrity of its operations by eradicating corruption or inefficiency within the Bureau.

And I encourage you to continue your condemnation activities to send out a clear message to smugglers that their days of unscrupulous activities are numbered.

I urge the BOC, however, to continue thinking of creative solutions to further enhance services and transform the Bureau into a world-class customs agency.

And I express my utmost confidence in your new BOC Commissioner, Commissioner Ariel. I trust that your able leadership will drive the BOC to exceed expectations this year and beyond.

Taus-puso po ang aming pasasalamat sa inyong lahat, sa bawat oras at patak ng pawis na inyong inaalay upang ang bansa natin ay patuloy na umusad.

Muli, saludo kami sa inyong sipag, dangal, at determinasyon. Sa inyong pagpupursigi, may mas maayos na bukas sa Bagong Pilipinas.

Mabuhay kayong lahat. Mabuhay ang Bagong Pilipinas.