Philippines - Customs Modernization Project

Overview & Synopsis

The development objective of the Customs Modernization Project for Philippines is to improve the efficiency of the Bureau of Customs and reduce trade costs. The project was approved on October 27, 2020, became effective on January 28, 2021, and was officially launched on March 26, 2021. During 2023, in a proactive effort, the BOC, the DOF and the Bank had agreed in principle to proceed with a partial cancellation for the project to disentangle CPS activities affected by the legal proceedings from other operationally viable activities, such as inspection systems, process reengineering, and HR and ERP systems. However, in January 2024 the DOF-BOC leadership reassessed the outlook of the BOC’s unresolved procurement constraints and concluded that the project was no longer operationally viable. The BOC formally requested the cancellation of the loan in May 2024, with the Department of Finance (DOF) endorsing this decision by November 7, 2024. By late 2024, about 5 percent of the loan had been disbursed. As of end October 2025, the final project expenditures were only at US$106,133, after a refund was made to the designated account.