Support mounts for level playing field in cement sector

Support for a level playing field in the cement industry is mounting with a cross section of the affected sectors of society asking the Tariff Commission to put in place safeguard measures against the unabated entry of imports.

Local and civic officials had written the commission recently and during this week’s public consultation verbally told the commission led by Chairman Edgardo Abon that unless safeguard measures are put in place, the local cement industry may collapse and take down the economies of Bulacan, Davao and La Union with it.

Earlier, the suppliers of the cement industry also sought the enforcement of the Safeguards Act, claiming they, too, have been significantly affected by the imports.

In November last year, the Department of Trade and Industry slapped a 200-day provisional tariff of P20.60 per 40-kilogram bag of imported cement to provide relief to local manufacturers reeling from the unabated entry of cement imports into the country. The Tariff Commission will decide whether to make this definitive or not.

"A government should provide an even playing field, if not favor and protection, to its domestic industries against the onslaught of imported goods and products," Fr. Rolando de Leon, a parish priest in Norzagaray, Bulacan, and pastoral leader of 17 other parishes in the province, said in his letter.

Norzagaray hosts cement plants run by Union Cement Corp., Republic Cement Corp. and Continental Cement Corp. These factories, according to Bulacan Rep. Lorna Silverio, "are indispensable to Bulacan’s economy." Silverio reported that in 2000, Union Cement paid P50.2 million in local taxes and a slightly lower, P48.3 million last year, as imports started to bite.

Union Cement is also a big taxpayer in Davao. It paid about P26 million last year, an amount bigger than its total internal revenue allotment from the National Government given that it has paid minimum income taxes due to losses it has raked up due to the flood of imports in the Mindanao market.

In Bacnotan, La Union, Union Cement paid over P50.4 million in local taxes in 2000. As of October last year, it has remitted P40.5 million to the La Union provincial government, once again a lower figure due to surging imports.

Local officials also informed the tariff commissioners that apart from being a big taxpayer, cement firms like Union Cement also help their communities.

Davao Rep. Vincent Garcia said in his letter to the Tariff Commission that Union Cement has ensured that its manufacturing plant meets the government’s dust emission standards and has also been sponsoring community development programs and financing some of the needs of two public schools in Davao through its "Adopt-A-School" program that has been running for five years.