Twenty-five business organizations have asked President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to scrap a plan by the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) to mandate the registration and monitoring of cargoes, saying this will put a P35-billion annual financial strain among their ranks due to a 50-percent increase in importation cost.
In an open letter, the business groups asked the President to order the repeal of PPA Administrative Order (AO) 04-2021 and the Trusted Operator Program- Container Registry and Monitoring System (TOP-CRMS) whose implementation was put on hold due to vehement objections from economic managers, business groups, transport associations and the international community.
The groups issued the appeal in the wake of what they said are “unconfirmed reports that certain vested interests have renewed their push to implement the controversial program.”
The groups also urged the President to “admonish public officials who blatantly disregard valid concerns from the private and public stakeholders.”
The groups said PPA AO 04-2021 was approved prematurely without understanding the sector’s issues.
They added succeeding Senate investigations and public consultations further emphasized the glaring deficiencies of the order.
They added PPA’s proposed container monitoring system duplicates existing digital container tracking and booking applications of international shipping lines, terminal/off-dock container yard operators.
The groups said, the AO is an unnecessary additional layer of bureaucracy and will waste precious public funds under the guise of “digitalization” when the Bureau of Customs already has an ongoing World Bank-supported digitalization and modernization strategy to curb smuggling.
The groups reiterated that the additional direct financial costs from the additional insurance fees, transaction fees, and trucking fees could increase the cost of importing goods by as much as 50 percent or at least P35 billion per year which could only drive inflation.
“This amount could easily be magnified by the port congestion that the PPA’s confusing, unnecessary, and flawed TOP-CRMS program may cause,” they said.
They added: “The lack of transparency, misleading claims, and inaccurate reports over the status of the PPA AO 04-2021 have put a cloud of uncertainty in the logistics market. We fear that the continued ambiguity will also lead to insecurity in the supply chain of essential commodities,” they said.
