The Bureau of Customs (BOC) has once again adjusted the thresholds in its selectivity system–this time temporarily decreasing the number of daily container shipments tagged under red lane to 20% from 80% and effectively increasing those directed to the yellow lane to 80% from 20%, but only for the Port of Manila (POM) and Manila International Container Terminal (MICT).
(Since August 30, the green lane has been suspended which means shipments are currently either tagged under the red or yellow lane. The suspension was a consequence of congressional inquiries on why a shipment of methamphetamine hydrochloride worth P6.5 billion was directed to the green lane instead of the red, thus eluding BOC detection.)
READ: Use of green lane temporarily on hold
In an October 18 memo that took effect immediately, BOC officer-in-charge and deputy commissioner for Revenue Collection and Monitoring Group Natalio Ecarma III ordered the Risk Management Office to coordinate with the Management Information System and Technology Group (MISTG) to temporarily adjust the thresholds for red and yellow lanes for Manila’s international ports “due to problems encountered on the part of the x-ray machines.”
Shipments tagged under yellow lane are subject to documentary review while those directed to the red lane undergo both documentary review and x-ray inspection.
The new memo is silent on the threshold for container shipments in ports outside POM and MICT that would pass through the red lane, specifically whether the threshold will remain at 80%, as mandated in a memo signed by Customs commissioner Isidro Lapeña on September 29. It is also unclear if the threshold for container shipments that would have to go through the yellow lane in ports other than POM and MICT will therefore remain at 20%.
READ: More PH shipments to go through red lane, all to undergo xray
It appears that the latest (October 18) memo amends—but only for POM and MICT–the September 29 order that had raised the threshold for container shipments that must go through the red lane from 20% to 80% daily, and which mandated that all red lane-tagged shipments undergo x-ray inspection.
The September 29 order came with an unintended consequence: queuing of trucks waiting to get their red lane shipments to go through x-ray inspection. After complaints from stakeholders, Lapeña ordered the exemption of several types of shipments from being directed to the red lane, including those bound for Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) areas. In addition to PEZA-bound shipments, BOC also exempted perishable/reefer shipments, except those coming from China; and importation of government agencies as well as multinationals from being tagged under the red lane.
Before the October 18 and September 29 memos, shipments directed to the red lane (high-risk goods) comprised 20% of the daily total number of cargoes entering the Philippines; those for the yellow lane (medium risk), 60%; and green lane (low risk), 20%.
Shipments of importers accredited under BOC’s Super Green Lane, the facility that allows advance processing and clearance of shipments for qualified importers, are not been affected by any of the new orders. – Roumina Pablo
