The Bureau of Customs said Monday seven commercial banks agreed to extend their hours to accept payments from importers, in response to the longer working hours of the agency.
Customs commissioner Alberto Lina said the banks’ approval to clear importers payments on extended hours would reduce the chances of port congestion.
Customs earlier extended its operating hours from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Lina said the problem with the new schedule was that while customs staff went to work early for operation, banks were not open yet.
“Importers pay directly to banks. If BOC cannot verify from the banks that payment has been made, then shipment can’t be cleared for release. BOC doesn’t accept cash payments. It’s all auto debit,” he said.
The seven banks accredited by the Customs to clear importers payments on extended hours are Deutsche Bank, Security Bank, Asian United Bank, Metrobank, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., Banco De Oro and East West Bank.
Lina earlier held talks with the Bankers Association of the Philippines to expedite the release of shipments.
The bureau said the longer hours of service was initialized by the PAS 5 Host to Host 24/7 interface of the Philippine Clearing House Corp., a private corporation equally owned by members of BAP.
“I am thankful for the positive response shown by these banks and hope that this service upgrade will improve the bureau’s revenue performance. We are already seeing faster movement within our ports in terms of released shipments over the weekends which had been otherwise not possible without this extended clearing payment service,” Lina said.
“We will continue to look for ways to provide better services for our stakeholders even in these last few remaining months in the administration,” he said.
Lina said some banks were already operating on Saturdays.