The Philippine Association of Meat Processors Inc. (Pampi) appealed to the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to revoke an order issued by the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) requiring importers to register containers.
Pampi wrote to Transport Secretary Jaime J. Bautista, who also serves as the PPA chairman, last January 3 to complain about the “economic challenges” brought about by PPA’s Administrative Order (AO) 04-2021. The PPA is an attached agency of the DOTr.
Pampi President Felix O. Tiukinhoy Jr. and Vice President Jerome D. Ong said AO 04-2021 places additional burden on importers as it requires them to pay for the “registration and monitoring of containers.”
“Said AO which was issued during the previous administration and whose contract was awarded in a midnight deal, imposes an additional unjustifiable financial burden on our industry already battered by spiraling cost of raw materials, freight, and a broken supply chain,” the two Pampi officials said.
“We do not see how such a policy can contribute to the recovery and growth of our economy. On the contrary, AO 04-2021 adds to inflationary pressures as it forces importers to pass the additional PPA charges to consumers of finished goods.”
Pampi claimed that the issuance of AO 04-2021 was a “grave abuse of authority” since it burdens the importers with the registration of containers, which it said are owned by shipping lines and not by the importers.
“The use of containers is paid to shipping lines by importers as part of freight costs. Therefore, requiring importers to pay PPA for watching/monitoring containers which do not belong to them, is unwarranted and abusive.”
The group also said AO 04-2021 overlaps with the Bureau of Customs’ E-TRACC system that tracks containerized cargo “for which importers pay a fee per container load.”
“Thus, AO 04-2021 defies government policy on simplifying transactions as mandated by EODB Act of 2018,” Pampi said.
“AO 04-2021 issuance by PPA is untenable as regulating movement of imports is not within its charter but which properly belongs to [the Bureau of Customs].”
AO 04-2021 was issued by the PPA in September 2021 to monitor the movement of containers in the country.
One of the objectives of the AO was to prescribe a policy environment regarding the registration and monitoring of containers entering and leaving PPA ports, including the scheduling, loading, unloading, release and movement of all containers.
“To generate an explicit and non-repudiable record of accountabilities to enable PPA to monitor the movement of containers from the time of entry, discharge, return and storage, and re-export,” AO 04-2021 read.
The PPA held a public consultation on the implementing operational guidelines of AO 04-2021 on January 4. The public consultation was originally scheduled last December 15, 2022.
Image credits: www.ppa.com.ph