Import licenses to be streamlined.
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In a decisive move that is likely to have far-reaching effect on the way the Philippines does business till now, the government of the Philippines decided to put their foot down and clamp down on the gross misuse and smuggling that has become a way of life in this struggling nation.
Hence, the first salvo that was fired on Tuesday by the Secretary of Agriculture, Emmanuel Pinol, brought to the fore the rampant malpractices that could not be tolerated for long; he announced the cancellation, with immediate effect, of all import licenses that had been issued in the past.
The intention was to ensure that the taxes and levies were paid promptly by the holders of these permits which had been grossly misused by one and all; these import licenses were being recycled repeatedly and the items imported were tantamount to smuggling due to their repeated misuse.
The order to cancel all the licenses pertaining to the meat products and plant products was effective immediately; now, it is anticipated that a better, more practical alternative could be introduced by the authorities in the short term.
And, true enough, Pinol addressed reporters who were curious to know what plans the government had for addressing the genuine needs of the importers who were not indulging in malpractices. He informed that, from now on, he would be personally be involved in the transparent process of providing import licenses to ensure that the government was getting its due without losing vital revenue due to the malpractices of the defaulters.
To this end, he went on to say, he would be signing a special order within a day or so and there will be a proper review of each individual import license to verify the genuineness of operations so that we are not duped by unscrupulous elements; moreover, those cases found to be perfectly legal and above board.
In the case of legitimate operations, the import licenses would be restored immediately subject to verification and finding that no recycling of these documents was being resorted to by the company holding the license.
For doing an objective job to get proper results and to install a transparent system that would be mutually beneficial to the businessmen and the government, the Agriculture secretariat had formed a Technical Working Group (TWG) that was comprised of acknowledged experts in the field so that justice can be done to the licensees as well as the revenue collections.
The issue of new permits would be studied by this group after due perusal and inspections as warranted under the rules. Moreover, the Agriculture Secretary assured the newsmen that the process would be quite efficient and speedy considering that all the holders of these import licenses would be members in that TWG.
Enforcing
This step, the Agriculture Secretary explained, would ensure that the government does not lose its vital revenue earnings on account of malpractices adopted by the permit holders and flooding the market through smuggling; strict penalties are also being envisaged to prevent such malpractices.
Repeated uses of a permit will not be tolerated, he said.
He went on to add that this clampdown would also include those traders who resorted to wrong declaration of goods or those that undervalued the goods under various methods to hoodwink the authorities.
He quoted an example of wrong classification of the consignments as under:
• Offal is a meat product that is quite low priced and carries a tariff of about 5% of its total value; it consists of internal viscera of the animals that have been butchered. They are of insignificant value and come very cheap from Europe and other sources,
• The Prime Choice cuts of meat are charged at 35% of their overall value,
• Traders who import choice cuts of meat often classify them as Offal to dupe the country of 30% of their higher valued product .
Pinol, when asked whether this would have the effect of causing inflation in the local markets, answered that such an influence was not expected. He mentioned that normal, legal transactions would not be affected in any way, only illegal ones.
He also explained that all shipments will be on hold till a proper re-issue of permits took place.
But he said that once he has signed the order, any shipment would not be released until the proper import permits have been reissued.
Hindrance
Other products that were normally smuggled included Onions and vegetables and this order would also clamp down on these products; we have separate bureaus for plant industry and the animal industry that issue the permits.
Trade data collected by the Philippines Bureau of Customs and the United Nations about the movement of these products and the permits issued for them had revealed that smuggling of these products was a regular malpractice.
Meanwhile, the Meat Importers and Traders Association (Mita) Inc. in a telephonic demanded clarifications from the Agriculture Secretary regarding the process that will be implemented henceforth. President of MITA Jesus Cham exhorted the administration to hasten the legitimate movements of imports since a good amount of money was locked into it.
Cham told the newsmen that this is not the first attempt by an administration to check the issue of meat smuggling. He claimed that the Filipino administration was laying obstructions while the world was moving towards an open economy.
He pointed out that the approach of the Customs department was wrong since all permits had electronic tags preventing their re-use.
Continuing corruption
Even the Samahang Industriya sa Agrikultura (SINAG) decried the failure of the successive administrations to prosecute anyone in spite of seizures of illegal consignments; they hoped that this would not be another source of corruption.
Accreditation of importers was a must, the Sinag chair adding that the smuggling during the past five years had touched P200 billion.
Umrao Singh
umraoz.wordpress.com
Written for: Lars-Magnus Carlsson
www.thephilippinepride.com?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss
Wednesday, 23 November 2016
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