The Bureau of Customs (BOC) said the Philippines will host a working meeting with the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asean Growth Area (BIMP-Eaga) in 2018, to address social and economic development issues in so-called less-developed areas and enhance economic trade and reforms in the customs-clearing process between the countries.
According to the BOC, the Philippines will host the BIMP-Eaga Customs, Immigration, Quarantine and Security Working Group meeting in 2018, as a result of the recently concluded 11th BIMP-Eaga Heads of Customs Meeting held in Malaysia on November 13.
At the two-day meeting last week, Customs Commissioner Isidro S. Lapeña proposed before other customs leaders a time-release study (TRS) on port clearance that will measure the duration of shipment arrival at its destination and its exit from ports.
Similarly, the study will also identify each step in the shipping-clearance system, with the time for each of these steps being measured as well.
Lapeña said the TRS will help identify both the average processing time of shipments and the steps that take the longest time. The results can help inform policies that can lead to faster processing of shipments.
He also proposed a bilateral arrangement between the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia on goods in transit. Goods in transit is a product of the bilateral meeting between Indonesia and Malaysia, which aims to increase port activity, attract investors and increase economic activities.
The meeting also touched on the terms of reference (TOR) for port-to-port information sharing the Philippines has been developing. The TOR will be the standard for information sharing between ports in the BIMP-Eaga.
At the sidelines of the meeting, Lapeña visited the largest port in Sabah, Malaysia, to observe the best in customs-clearance procedures adopted by the Royal Malaysian Customs Department.
He said port visits to other Association of Southeast Asian Nations member-states are important, as they help the Philippines with its plan to modernize and develop its port areas.
“I am looking forward to more port visits and to explore various new systems from other Asean member-states to ensure sustainable and effective trade among countries,” Lapeña said.
The BIMP-Eaga is a subregional economic-cooperation initiative in Southeast Asia that promotes connectivity among its member countries.
The members consist of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.
Also, the BOC said it exceeded its daily collection target for November 3 and 10, collecting a total of P3.045 billion and P3.839 billion, respectively. The revenue collected on November 3 and 10 were 22.2 percent and 54.1 percent higher than the target daily collection of P2.492 billion.
The growth was attributed to the significant collection performance of the different ports nationwide.