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Nearly 1,000 port users and workers have signed an ongoing petition asking President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to stop implementation of the Philippine Ports Authority container registry and monitoring system
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The petition against the Trusted Operator Program-Container Registry and Monitoring System was signed by port stakeholders from across Metro Manila, Cavite, Bulacan, Laguna, and Batangas, who also urged a review of PPA’s approved tariff increases
A signature drive asking President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to stop implementation of the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) container registry and monitoring system is ongoing, with nearly 1,000 signatories as of this writing.
The petition, signed mostly by port users and workers from Metro Manila, Cavite, Bulacan, Laguna, and Batangas, expressed their opposition to PPA’s Trusted Operator Program-Container Registry and Monitoring System (TOP-CRMS).
The stakeholders also asked the President to review PPA’s approved increases in tariff, saying they add to price increases.
TOP-CRMS is PPA’s proposed electronic system to register and monitor the movement of foreign containers entering and leaving PPA ports.
Under PPA Administrative Order No. 04-2021, foreign containers are required to register with TOP-CRMS and to secure a container insurance policy.
The petitioners told Marcos digitalization should reduce prices for the public, lessen procedures, and benefit all instead of a few, and yet TOP-CRMS—which PPA said pushes digitalization—would seem to have an opposite effect.
Aside from the petition, Alliance of Concerned Truck Owners and Organizations vice president Rina Papa had said earlier they are also conducting a signature campaign against AO 04-2021.
PPA earlier said TOP-CRMS is their solution to address the long-standing issue on the return of container deposits imposed by foreign shipping lines, as well as to manage the return of foreign empty containers to the shipowners.
Various stakeholders and business groups, however, are opposing the program since PPA first proposed the idea of a container registry and monitoring system in a public consultation in June 2021.
Seventeen stakeholders and business organizations earlier called on Marcos to intervene and immediately scrap AO 04-2021 and TOP-CRMS, which they said “threatens to cripple the transport and logistics industries and the national economy as a whole.”
The groups estimate that the direct financial cost alone from the additional insurance fees, transaction fees, and trucking fees required by TOP-CRMS will raise by almost 50% the cost of importing goods. In real terms, they said, the system will add at least a staggering P35 billion to annual import costs.
Under the proposed implementing operational guidelines (IOG) of AO 04-2021, forwarders, customs brokers, importers, and consignees should secure container insurance that costs P980 plus value-added tax (VAT) per container through TOP-CRMS, as a requirement for releasing the container.
Moreover, all empty containers for re-export are required to be endorsed to a PPA-designated staging facility at least 72 hours prior to departure. This entails a service fee of P3,520 plus VAT per container beyond the first three days, the group said.
They added that the system will also not be a solution to port congestion as claimed by PPA, and be a “clear usurpation of Customs function.”
Two stakeholders’ organizations, on the other hand, said they support TOP-CRMS, which they portray as the final solution to the issues on the return of container deposit and empty containers.
The implementation of TOP-CRMS was deferred indefinitely by the majority of PPA’s board following calls from various stakeholders and business groups to scrap the system.
PPA general manager Jay Daniel Santiago, however, said PPA will still continue to improve the program so the agency can implement it properly once it is given the opportunity to do so. – Roumina Pablo
