Last year, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) was confronted by challenges brought about by severe port congestion made worse by tough traffic schemes enforced by local governments in Metro Manila. Despite this setback, the BOC managed to improve revenue collections, setting a new record for the highest ever single-month collection. Notable is the growth expansion in customs revenue of more than 20 percent in October 2014 alone. Despite this gain, smuggling remains a threat to this revenue machinery as the practice of using trade channels through untrue commercial declarations to evade payment of taxes affect collections and distort international trade data. Now more than ever, there is more reason for this practice be curtailed, as rice, sugar and other major commodities are often the perennial subject of smuggling, thus endangering the protection the State has accorded to their production and distribution.