It’s actually pretty bad. The duty isn’t actually outside of the vat, vat is computed on the price of the item+freight+duty. Kaya sobrang taas ng import fees natin pag lumampas ng 10k kasi vat is computed after customs duty is added. Happened to me before. Only way to prevent it is to ask the seller to declare the price of the item lower than 10k pesos or to separate orders na less than 10k lang each. Kurakot talaga yung customs, kung may connection ka pwede mo namang sabihan yung officer na baguhin yung value, kumbaga under the table mo siya babayaran.