Visayas businessmen clamor for finance, trade reforms

Businessmen from the Visayas are urging the Department of Finance (DOF) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to undertake various reforms needed to improve business climate in the country.

During the recently concluded Visayas Business Conference, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) Visayas network came up with a list of resolutions its members want the government to implement.

For the DOF, PCCI-Visayas called on the agency to standardize the length of time and procedure for the processing and release of imported cargos in ports outside Metro Manila, and if possible, benchmark it against best practices in ASEAN.

The group also wants the DOF to authorize the regional offices of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to accept and process applications and release importers’ clearance certificate (ICC), and of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) for the brokers customs’ clearance (BCC), to make the system more efficient and less costly for importers.

“The current system of a centralized release for the acceptance, processing and releasing of ICC and BCC at the Manila Central Office have caused delays in the movement of goods and supplies resulting to increase of storage and detention fees,” the group said.

In addition, the businessmen called on the DOF to expedite processing time for the ICC by limiting the requirements of BIR to six certifications and to link the BIR’s computerized system to the system of government so that verification can be easily automated and eliminate the delegation of importer/taxpayer to do verification process.

Meanwhile, PCCI Visayas urged the DTI to regularly publish a matrix of all fees of shipping lines to assist importers and exporters in choosing which shipping lines offer fair, reasonable and efficient logistics services.

The group expressed support for the enactment into law of Senate Bill 1311 and House Bill 2148 or the Expanded Anti-Red Tape Act to ease doing business in the country and make it competitive and compliant with global business practices and standards.

It also backs the immediate implementation of the Inter-Agency Business Process Interoperability, a project of the DOF that aims to simplify and harmonize the import and export documentation of regulated projects and automate import and export documentation processes of trade regulatory agencies.