Solon to pursue CMTA passage when Congress resumes sessions

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Senator Juan Edgardo Angara
Senator Juan Edgardo Angara
Senator Juan Edgardo Angara

Senator Juan Edgardo Angara has vowed to continue pushing for the passage of the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act (CMTA) as Congress entered a month-long legislative break.

Angara in a press release said the Senate will continue to campaign for the passage of priority measures such as the CMTA when sessions resume on November 3; the Senate and Lower House adjourned last October 7. Angara heads the Senate Committee on Ways and Means which reviews the draft CMTA.

The objective is to have the bill signed by President Benigno Aquino III before the Asia-Pacific Cooperation meeting in Manila in November, according to Bureau of Customs (BOC) deputy commissioner for Assessment and Operations Coordinating Group Atty. Agaton Teodoro Uvero, who spoke at a recent forum organized by the Chamber of Customs Brokers, Inc.

Angara in his sponsorship speech on September 28 urged the passage of Senate Bill No. 2968, or An Act to Prescribe the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act, to “simplify, modernize and align our customs procedures with global best practices by updating the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines (TCCP).”

Angara said the CMTA “simplifies customs procedures such as import clearances, making the release of goods much faster regardless of whether you are an individual entrepreneur or a large multinational.” For instance, highly compliant or low-risk importers can enjoy the benefit of deferred payment of duties and taxes. The customs bureau’s functions to achieve “simplified, secured, and harmonized trade facilitation” will also be reinforced.

Moreover, the bill will provide a clearer basis for valuating and processing free, regulated, prohibited and restricted importations, as well as set down clearer rules on transit and transhipments. Angara said the use of information technology is also emphasized in the bill “to speed up customs operations and to make them more transparent.”

The tax exempt value for a balikbayan (personal effects) box will also be increased to P150,000 from the current P10,000, and the de minimis value to P10,000 from the current P10. There’s a provision, too, to allow changes to these figures every three years. The proposed measure also aims to make importation of relief goods duty- and tax-free during calamities.

The bill is, however, controversial because customs brokers are against its declarant provision, which allows traders or any of their authorized personnel (not necessarily a customs broker) to sign the import declaration.

Brokers say this threatens the profession because it makes the need for professionals optional.

As a compromise, Angara at a hearing in August had proposed a threshold import value of P500,000 that would require the signature of a customs broker in the import declaration.

The proposed CMTA has been approved on second reading at the Lower House but is awaiting interpellation at the Senate.

Photo from Senator Juan Edgardo Angara’s Facebook page.