Stakeholders laud BOC for reaching goal

THE business sector praised the Bureau of Customs (BOC) Port of Cebu for practicing good governance resulting in the collection of P18.3 billion, not only hitting the P17.2 billion target, but also getting a surplus of P1.2 million.

Melanie Ng of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) said that they always advocated for closer collaboration between the business sector and the government.

“We know that if we can collaborate closely together, we can achieve, we can address concerns better and there are ways on which the business sector as a whole will be able to improve the way we do business,” Ng said.

Ng added that they are glad that BOC Port of Cebu District Collector Rico Rey Francis “Koko” Holganza has been open in reaching out to business owners, particularly the importers, in addressing the concerns that they’ve brought to his office.

Ng said they had several meetings with joint stakeholders at the CCCI office last year to solve the port congestion, operational issues, both for importers and exporters.

In a press conference, Holganza said that achieving a surplus of P1.2 billion would not be possible without the cooperation and support of the different stakeholders.

“It was not a one-man effort, not a one-office effort but a team effort of all stakeholders, as far as the importation industry is concerned. I am talking about CCCI, PhilExport, brokers, importers, shipping, Opascor, Cebu Port Authority. Without these agencies or stakeholders helping us in this collection effort, I don’t think we could have surplus of P1.2 billion,” Holganza said.

Holganza and Jose Jef- ferson Bajao of the Chamber of Customs Brokers Inc. (CCBI) held a “boodle fight” lunch yesterday to celebrate the surplus.

“We hope to hold boodle fights every time we hit the target, and we will involve all stakeholders in the future,” Holganza said.

PhilExport (Confederation of Philippine Exporters) Cebu executive director Fred Escalona said that although revenue collections came from imports, most of their member-exporters are also importers of raw materials.

“Due to the good performance of the BOC Port of Cebu, I would love to see a double whammy in our favor next year (2018), meaning to say that exports will rebound, Escalona said.

“We have been very impressed with the proactiveness and the vision of the Customs people that we are also being encouraged to contribute to this success, especially next year and the coming years,” Escalona said.

Rene Ledesman Jr., vice president of Evergreen Shipping, said they appreciate the collaboration of the district collector and his team that they were able to contact then when issues arise.

“The more pressing issues that we are facing are the need for channel and more space at the terminal at CIP so that bigger and more ships can come in” Ledesma said.

Bajao said they did not expect that the surplus to reach a huge amount such as P1.2 billion. “It shows how united we are in Cebu.”

Opascor manager for CIP Jonathan Fernandez said the actual utilization of CIP has contributed to the surplus.

“Last year, our utilization of the port was only 45 percent, which means port decongestion, because of the efficient processing of import documents,” Fernandez said.

Deputy Collector for Assessment Lemuel Erwin Romero and Conrado Abarintos of the BOC cash division said that although the volume of importation is low compared to the past years, they were able to increase collections through correct valuation.