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Philippines
Thursday, March 28, 2024

Port users seek gov’t help

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The Port Users Confederation of the Philippines has asked the government to come up with pro-active measures against port congestion and other problems looming in ports of Manila.

PUCP officers and members have met with officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways, Bureau of Customs, Department of Transportation and other concerned agencies and discussed how they can find permanent solution to the problem as big volume of imports starts coming in for the holiday season.

The group cited the Dec. 31, 2018 deadline given by the DPWH and DOTr to haulers and truckers to acquire additional transport equipment to conform with the government’s gross vehicle weight policy.

In July, the government suspended the enforcement of the maximum allowable gross vehicle weight for trucks and trailers with a total of 18 and 22 wheels to give haulers and truckers ample time to comply.

The suspension covers Code 12-2 and 12-3 which involves truck, semi-trailer with 3-axles at motor vehicle and 2 axles at trailer for a total of 18 wheels and truck semi-trailer with 3 axles at motor vehicle and 3-axles at trailer summing up 22 wheels.

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Other truck/trailer codes are required to observe the current maximum allowable GVW under the anti-overloading policy.

Public Works secretary Mark Villar said earlier the government is expecting full compliance from Codes 12-2 and 12-3 truck/trailer owners on upgrading their units to have maximum allowable GVW of 41,500 and 42,000 kilograms, respectively, before Jan. 1, 2019.

He reiterated the importance of complying with the policy since early damage and deterioration to road pavement and occurrence of accidents are attributed to overloaded vehicles.

Under Republic Act 8794 entitled “An Act  Imposing a Motor Vehicle User’s Charge on Owners of all Types of Motor Vehicle and for Other Purposes,” overloaded trucks will be fined with 25 percent of the amount of their motor vehicle user’s charge (MVUC) applicable to the vehicle at the time of infringement.

PUCP president Rodolfo de Ocampo said they called up a meeting with government officials to discuss matters concerning the crisis looming in the ports both in the north and south harbor Manila.

“We must act together and make proactive measures to avert port congestion that is why we called this forum so we could come up with a permanent solution,” said De Ocampo during the meeting held at the Diamond Hotel in Manila.

He added “this coming Christmas there will be volume of importation, the unavailability of shipping lines, container yards that  hamper the return of the empty containers. There will be spill over on the first quarter.”

“About the moratorium, we have been given until Dec. 31 and we don’t know if they will extend it by January. We just want an institutonalize solution.”

Port congestion, according to PUCP, would cause delayed delivery of raw materials to manufacturing plants, and finished products to the local and international markets.

“There will be a spike in inflation brought about by the soaring prices of goods due to its scarcity in the market and truck personnel affected by the prohibition of the utilization of Code 12-2 and Code 12-3 will lose their jobs,” the group added.

The PUCP appealed to the government to amend the provision embodied in the implementing Rules and Regulations on the maximum GVW under Republic Act 8794.

It also asked the Department of Trade and Industry to issue an order imposing a limit on the weight of laden containers to 24 tons and mandatory weighing of laden containers prior to exit from the pier.

In a related development, the Port of Manila (PoM) denied reports that it diverted part of the collection intended for the Port of Batangas in order to meet its August 2018 revenue goal and prevent the district collector from being relieved for not hitting its assigned target.

The issue involves the duties and taxes of Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation (PSPC) for its oil importation.

In a statement released by the Bureau of Customs – Public Information and Assistance Division (PIAD) on Saturday, officials said PoM collected more than P7. 87 billion for the month of August as against its assigned goal of P7. 42 billion.

“Even without the collection from Shell of P448,609,581.00 it would still have a collection of 7,443,278,315 with a surplus of 15,278,315.00 or 0.21%,” the PIAD stated.

Published reports showed that Port of Manila district collector Erastus Austria allegedly asked the Pilipinas Shell to file its payments on a recent shipment of crude oil with the Port of Manila instead of the Port of Batangas, where the shipment was unloaded at PSPC’s Tabangao refinery.

It reported that that as of Aug. 28, the Port of Manila had a deficit of more than P1.5 million and was still short by P800 million on Aug. 31. However, three days later, Austria declared that the Port of Manila reached its target of P7.4 billion for August.

But Port of Manila officials denied this and maintain that the shipment of Shell went through the standard clearance process in accordance with Sections 400 and 408 of the Customs law which allows the lodgement of goods declaration at any designated customs area.

The Notice of Arrival and Inward Foreign Manifest of the shipment clearly indicates that the intended port of arrival is the Port of Manila.

Also, in accordance with Section 409 of the law, advance lodgement is allowed by the BOC prior to the actual arrival of the goods. Thus, there is no truth to allegation that the shipment of Shell was processed ahead of time in order to meet the collection target even though the shipment was due to arrive only in September.

Furthermore, the allegation that Customs clearance of oil importation cannot be done in the absence of a Discharge Port Survey Report finds no merit because Sections 403 and 426 of the same Act allows tentative assessment and release of provisional goods declaration, provided that lodgement contains the necessary information required by the BOC to ascertain the rightful revenues to the government.

Last February, Commissioner Isidro Lapena Jr. issued a  memorandum stating that all district collectors, deputy collectors for assessment, chief of Formal Entry Division, examiners, appraisers and all personnel in charge of assessment of the collection districts who failed to meet the target will be relieved.

Customs officials believe that the issue involving Shell oil importation is being raised primarily to muddle and divert attention from the matter involving the recent release of illegal drugs at the Manila International Container Port (MICP).

“By raising attention to this simple matter, imputing malicious stories and spreading misinformation, the people whose operations were thwarted by the Commissioner in his campaign against illegal activities, hope to somehow sidetrack the investigation being conducted by the BOC,” they said.

The Customs Statistics Division had said that ever since Collector Austria assumed office at the Port of Manila, the port consistently reached its collection target. Barely five months into office as District Collector, his collection exceeded his target by more than P2.1 billion and he was able to recover the deficit left by his predecessor of P1.164 billion.

At present, the Port of Manila has a surplus of P946 million and is set on hitting its annual target.

Deputy Collector for Assessment Florante Ricarte said as early as August 30, the Port of Manila was already poised to meet its target considering the strong performance of its subports, Harbor Center, Masinloc, Peza Laguna and Cavite.

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